Death of the League
by ShadowMajin
Summary: Sequel to The Mind's Eye of Desperation. They never saw it coming. As the world around them was plunged into chaos, nowhere was safe, least of all the Justice League. And all of it was for the rise of the Bat-King.
1. To The Bat-King

Hello folks, this is ShadowMajin, and I'm back with the third Justice League story in Anonymous Void and My series. This one's going to be a fun one for sure, so strap in and get ready for a wild ride. The title is a homage, which I'm sure many of you will pick up, or already have. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

Given a choice between a God and a King, why would anyone pick a God?

Power, dominion over people, everlasting life through the ages if not physically, but through an oral representative—all of those pretty baubles went into Godhood. Worshiped by all who feared their wrath for any slight, no matter how small seemed very tempting.

Except...Kings had that too. They had power, they ruled over peasants and lesser organisms. Why, they even made it into the history books, remembered right alongside Gods. They too were worshiped, given offerings of wealth and food all for the promise of protection. Why, one could say Kings and Gods were one in the same in that aspect.

In another, however, there was one very big, very real difference. Kings were real. There's evidence to prove they roamed the Earth, crushing the unworthy beneath their boot heels, their very words determining the fate of nations. Gods, well, it took a little faith. You had to believe they were real along with, oh, a few million other people. Otherwise you were considered crazy and a heretic and burned at the stake for your belief.

So where was the downside in all of this? As a King, you were mortal, and eventually you would die, your reign ended after years of tyranny, or squelched long before you had the chance to be truly great. A God was immortal, so that wasn't truly a problem for them. Yet, the worst thing anyone could do to a God was forget about them.

The more people forgot about them, the less power that God had. Their dominion weakened as their droves of worshipers turned to others, leaving them by the wayside as relics of a simpler time. Their temples were either razed for the new idol, or neglect slowly eroded away their alters until they were forgotten by time itself.

You couldn't do that with a King.

It didn't matter if you were a good king or a bad king, someone was going to remember you. Many were immortalized through poets and playwrights, detailing their accomplishments be they insignificant, or world-shattering. To this day there were people that held them in high regard, demanding paparazzi to hack their phones and email accounts, greedily consuming pictures of them eating their breakfast and flossing their teeth.

A gloved hand reached out to a small table, taking hold of a small shot glass. The amber of the scotch held in it a beauty not quite appreciated by its usual imbibers. The light from the crackling fire glanced off of it, providing the only source of illumination in the dark room. Moving the glass, it was brought to red lips, which pressed against it, the drink disappearing into the mouth beyond them. Finished, the glass was returned to the table, a dull _thud_ being made as it was set down. The gloved hand released its hold, yet stayed near as it moved to a much larger bottle. Picking it up, the bottle was turned and poured more of the scotch into the glass, the bottle being set down a moment later.

It was a shame really. Why would anyone pick Godhood over being royalty? It honestly didn't make any sense. Yet the plebeians constantly threw themselves at such fanciful ideas. The chance to do good with the powers of the cosmos—who wouldn't want to do that? Well, if you wanted to be boring…

A sigh left the man. His drink was beginning to speak for him. Lulling his head back, it pressed into the back of the rather comfy chair. The sight before him brought a small, lazy smile to his face. It was a work of art, created painstakingly through others. He would have to thank them for their contributions.

Picking up the shot glass again, he raised it up, his head lulling to a side to regard his collaborators. "Good work guys. Very good work." He then tilted the glass, pouring the scotch to the floor as it splashed upon contact. It was the least he could do considering they were all lying on the floor on top of each other. They didn't seem to mind and in fact were smiling widely.

Refilling the glass again, he tossed this one into his mouth, savoring the burning in the back of his throat as he swallowed. Another refill. So much work for one man was left to do, but it would be worth it. A lot of planning, expenses, and lives had been put into it and far be it from him not to follow through.

Another sigh. Sleepy eyes rolled to look towards his free hand, admiring the watch wrapped around his wrist. It took a moment for him to realize just where the hands were. "Whoops, it's late," he spoke to himself. "Better call it a night before I get myself into trouble."

Yet, one more drink wouldn't hurt. Retrieving his filled glass, he held it out in front of him, offering it as a toast to the art before him. On the wall was the symbol of a bat, encircled with an even larger heart around it. It was hard to tell with the lighting, but it was made with red paint, provided by his smiling collaborators. Unfortunately, there were small trails dripping down from the lines—an amateur's mistake. Still, it gave it some character.

"To the Bat-King," Joker said before he tossed down his drink. He slammed the glass harder on the table next to him, a sharp _tap!_ ringing out into the room.

"To the Bat-King."

* * *

The rules had been set. Weapons had been chosen for this round, courtesy of his opponent. The air was still save from the air condition silently blowing in a steady stream of cold air. The two combatants stood at the center of the room, platitudes of respect having already been offered and accepted.

A bo staff spun slowly in front of Batman's face, his hands flipping it end over end. There was a soft whooshing sound with every pass the staff's end made. Beyond it, he had his eyes focused on Wonder Woman, who held her own staff at her side. It was a relaxed stance, but he was fully aware of how fast she could bring the staff up to either attack or defend.

This wasn't the first time they had spared like this. In fact, the first time they had, Wonder Woman had a smirk on her face, fully confident in her abilities. The moment Batman had disarmed her, the smirk had left and she had gotten serious. They were well passed the point of hubris now.

Suddenly, Batman stopped his twirling and grasped the bo staff tightly. In a black blur, he lunged at the Amazon, jabbing at her face with the end of the staff. As expected, Wonder Woman stepped backwards, her own staff shooting up and parrying the blow away, the collision of the wooden staff's creating a light knocking sound.

Due to his staff being batted to a side, Batman used the change of direction to his advantage, pulling the end back as he attacked with the opposite end. Again, he was blocked, yet Diana continued to pull back.

The Dark Knight narrowed his eyes even as he pressed his attack, alternating which end he struck with. The Amazon was leading him somewhere, he just knew it. She had done something similar in a previous bout, countering was a leg sweep—

The moment Diana dropped downward, Batman was leaping upward, his feet just barely clearly the swing of Wonder Woman's staff. Once he reached the apex of his jump, the vigilante kicked out a leg, his foot ramming into the dark-haired woman's face. The blow snapped her head back, leaving her dazed.

Landing on his feet, Batman pressed his advantage and delivered another strike to the side of her head, this time with his staff. The hit knocked the Amazon off her feet, sending her crashing to the floor.

However, before he could attack again, Wonder Woman had gone into a roll, ending back up on her feet, though she stayed crouched. Halting, Batman assumed a defensive stance, one end of the staff pointed right at his opponent as he studied the woman.

"You remembered," Diana commended him, a twinkle in her eye that countered the redness on her face. "I was wondering if you would."

"Those bruises should be evidence of that," he returned, adjusting his grip on the staff.

"Perhaps." Suddenly, Diana pushed off the floor with her legs, charging at him. Seeing the incoming staff strike, Batman immediately countered by jabbing at the weapon with his own, the two ends ricocheting off each other. Unfazed, the Amazon continued with her assault, repeating striking with the ends of her staff. The only thing Batman could do was block them to the best of his ability, which he was certain he was succeeding, considering his opponent hadn't landed a blow on him yet.

That was when Diana changed things up. When the vigilante blocked her latest jab, she suddenly arched her bo staff up into the air as high as it would go. It then swung downward, aiming right for his head. In response, he held up his own staff, both of his hands grasping it at different points.

The moment the two staff collided, Diana's end landing right between Batman's hand on the middle of the staff, a sharp _snap!_ rang out, the Amazon's staff breaking the vigilante's in two. Jumping back to put some distance between them, Batman held both ends up, assuming a defensive stance as he did so. Sparing a glance, he couldn't help but note the splintered ends of the staff's pieces. Faintly, he wondered if Wonder Woman had applied her superhuman strength into that blow.

"Scared, little man?" Diana taunted him, keeping herself low as she pointed the end of her still-whole staff at him. Her back leg was bent at the knee, her other leg extended forward at an angle and as straight as an arrow. Because of this, she was leaning towards her back leg, putting most of her weight on it.

Batman whirled the pieces of his staff in circles, gaining a better grip on them. "Not especially," he responded coolly. He then moved his short staffs in front of him, forming an X with them. "But if it makes you feel better, the staff is."

The corner of her mouth twitched upward. "I suppose I'm going to have to try a littler harder."

Immediately, she pushed off with her back foot, adjusting with her front to place her weight on it as she lunged forward, jabbing her staff end at him. With his make-shift escrima stick, Batman used his left one to bat the strike to a side, simultaneously raising his right one above his head and swinging it downward.

Diana blocked his attempted blow with the end of her staff, immediately jabbing the other end and forcing Batman to block it. Before he could counter though, the Amazon suddenly spun the staff rapidly between them, her hands a blur as she flipped and adjusted the weapon in her grip.

Unfortunately for the vigilante, his broken staff pieces were ripped out of his hands by the spinning staff, effectively disarming him. Caught off guard, he stood still as he processed just what had happened, which left him wide open. Seeing this, Diana stopped spinning her staff pulled it away from him while at the same time shooting her free hand out in front of her. The palm of her hand slammed into Batman's chest and the force of the hit sent him flying backwards through the air.

The moment he landed on his back on the ground, the air in his lungs was forced out, causing him to cough. Damn, she hadn't held back with that palm strike.

Suddenly, a pair of legs was straddling his waist, a heavy weight sitting on top of his abdomen. Diana shoved her staff down on top of his throat, putting pressure on his windpipe, but going no further. Her dark hair cascaded around her head as she looked down on him with sparkling blue eyes. "I believe that's match."

Despite the Amazon's declaration, she had made a small error—namely she hadn't pinned his arms down. So from that standpoint, Batman was still able to offer resistance. However, he knew better than the try, especially when all it would take was for Diana to press her staff further down on his neck with her super strength. As previously stated, she had indeed won this round.

Raising a hand, he then slapped it against the side of her thigh, tapping out to signify his surrender. In response, Wonder Woman pulled back her staff, relieving the pressure against his throat; still, she hadn't gotten off of him either.

"You're slipping," she told him, though her tone was teasing. "I normally don't beat you that quickly."

"That tends to happen when you surprise me," Batman admitted. "Not to mention when you disarmed me."

"That's when things get interesting usually. Is something else on your mind? Distracted, maybe?" As if to emphasize her words, the Amazon breathed in deeply, which caused her bosom to push out towards him.

Batman took note of the cleavage for a moment. It wasn't the first time he had, nor would it be the last. The last couple of months he had found himself in positions such as this, with the Amazon Princess offering seemingly flirtatious teasing. At first he had been annoyed by it, but eventually he had found himself becoming less resistant. He was a man after all. As long as he didn't act on more instinctual urges, it was fine. Still, considering all that he knew on Amazons, this behavior was strange.

At least if you disregarded the fact that Amazons were women too.

"Nothing more than usual," Batman finally answered Wonder Woman's query, though his words did nothing to diminish her smile.

Of course, that's when the door to the training room they were in slid open. "Whoa, is something going on in here, or is it just me?" the voice of the Flash exclaimed.

Not the least bit perturbed, Diana raised her head up and looked towards the red-clad man. "Just finishing a training exercise, Flash," she replied to him, her good humor still laced in her voice.

"If you call straddling Bats training, then I think you're not quite finished," Flash returned, a smirk on his face. "Before you get too deep into things, just thought I'd let you kids know that it's almost meeting time."

"Thank you, Flash. We'll see you there."

A red blur replaced where Flash stood and the hero was gone a second later, leaving the two Leaguers by themselves. "I do wonder where he gets those ideas?" Diana wondered out loud.

Aside from the fact the Amazon had still not gotten off of him with ample time to do so, Batman could think of a couple of reasons, though none were coming to him at the moment. "Can't possibly see how he would."

Looking down at him, Diana gave him a look full of mirth before she finally stood up, stepping to one side so as not to stand over him. Before Batman could move though, the Amazon extended a hand out, one he stared at for a moment before taking with his own hand. The two pulling against each other, Batman was soon back on his feet, looking no worse for wear as his cape began to encircle him.

"Same time next week?" Diana asked as she continued to hold his hand.

"Same time next week," the Dark Knight confirmed, loosening his grip even though the dark-haired woman made no such move to reciprocate. Glancing down, it was then she let go of his hand, allowing him to drop it to his side. By the time he looked up, Diana was standing near a wall, placing her bo staff back on its rack.

Finishing her task, she glanced at him before saying, "Coming to the meeting this time?"

Batman shook his head. Because of his "part-time" status, he wasn't mandated to attend every meeting, especially the routine ones that occurred every two weeks. The agenda for this one didn't require his presence, so he saw no reason he needed to attend. Besides, he had other things that required his attention.

"I have some work in Gotham I need to attend to," he said. "Just send me the notes afterwards."

"Very well. Take care of yourself."

Without another word, Batman turned away and strode towards the exit. Already he was contemplating what awaited him in the cave and a sense of fatigue hit him. Aside from his normal patrol, he had been in constant training not just with the League, but his relatively new sidekick. His shoulder still ached from a previous spar. If he had a brain at all, he would take the next few hours off to at least rest.

Of course that thought never made it out of the Justice League headquarters.

* * *

"Colonel Vox is currently incarcerated by the Kasnia Authority, though I think we still need to keep an eye on this," John Stewart reported. "Kasnia doesn't have a stellar human rights record and they're especially not going to be extending any decent treatment to a man that tried to usurp the throne."

"Agreed," Superman responded. He then turned to look in Diana's direction. "Think you can pay King Gustav a visit?"

The dark-haired woman nodded her acceptance. It wasn't surprising that she would be considered for the assignment because of her involvement with Vox's apprehension. She and John had received and responded to a distress call from a private plane belonging to the Kasnia Monarchy. Upon defeating the terrorists on board, they had met the Princess Audrey, who informed them of a coup occurring at the country's capital. With J'onn and Flash as back up, the Leaguers defeated Vox and his men, restoring order to Gustav. In the aftermath, Diana had found herself with Audrey for a considerable amount of time.

Though it sounded devious, it was understandable that the League would need to use that association to keep tabs on Kasnia. Perhaps when Kasnia took care to treat their prisoners more fairly, such tactics would be unnecessary. Until then, Diana would just have to swallow her distaste and use such diplomacy.

"Assuming the rest of the week remains uneventful, I can pay a visit at the end of the week," she responded.

Superman nodded his acceptance. "On that note, we need to discuss next month's budget."

Flash groaned loudly at that. "Can't we hire an accountant for that, Big Blue?" he complained. "This bean counting is a major pain."

"Sorry, Flash, but it has to be done," the Man of Steel replied apologetically. "I know it's not the most exciting thing, but it is important."

"Paint drying is more exciting than this." The red-clad man slumped in his seat before his eyes glanced towards something more captivating. "Besides, shouldn't we _all_ be here for this?"

Diana couldn't help but turn her head to what Flash was indicating, which was the empty chair between J'onn and Hawkgirl—Batman's chair. Following his inclusion into the League, he had been given a chair at the table, one that half the time was empty due to him reneging on his League duties. John had grumbled early on about the vigilante's frequent absences.

Of course, when the subject was brought up to Batman, he had responded by slapping down the Justice League handbook and indicated to a highlighted section that clearly explained that he was not required to attend every meeting. He had then stared at the group, challenging them to contradict him.

Needless to say, that was the last time anyone brought the subject up in the Dark Knight's presence.

"Benefits of being a part-timer," Hawkgirl remarked, lounging back in her chair as she turned it to face Flash. "You know, you could do the same thing if you became one," she added slyly.

That caused Flash's head to perk up. "Hey, you're right!" he exclaimed. Turning to look at Superman, he said, "Big Blue, I motion to make myself a part-time member of the League."

"Denied," John immediately snapped. "Dropping from full-time status to part-time just because you don't want to attend meetings is a poor excuse. You have a duty to the League to attend and you're going to do it, no matter how much you don't like it."

For once, the Fastest Man Alive was frozen in place, eyes wide as he stared at the Green Lantern. Then he slumped in his seat, openly pouting. "Party pooper," he muttered.

Superman gave the red-clad hero a sympathetic look. "Sorry, Flash, but you're needed here. We'll try to make this as painless as possible."

"Too late for that."

As amusing as Flash's antics could be, there was definitely a rift forming within the League considering the seemingly special treatment given to Batman. To be frank, Diana had been in agreement with John at the beginning as well, while J'onn and, surprisingly, Superman accepted the vigilante's absence. Hawkgirl didn't seem to care one way or another and seemed more amused at the other's frustration with it.

However, when Diana had broached the subject with Batman, he had coolly laid out his case: he had many other obligations that the rest of the League did not share in. After all, none of them ran billion-dollar corporations as a day job—in fact, more than half of the League didn't have jobs. Then there was his need to be in top physical shape. Though Diana was quick to point out that the other heroes also needed to train, Batman had maddeningly stared at her before he completely rebuffed her point.

" _One member gets his powers from the sun, which doesn't require him to make frequent trips to make sure it's still burning. Another member has a battery source to recharge his ring. Another just has to make sure his body doesn't burn every calorie. Your powers don't diminish unless your Gods decide to revoke…"_

It was about there that Diana stopped him. The point was they didn't have to work as hard to maintain their powers. As far as she could tell, that was a valid point. Then, surprisingly, he confided in her that he was in the process of training an apprentice of sorts. Well, at least that's what she could glean from his vague words anyways.

" _So, if I end up missing a meeting, so be it. I don't have that much free time to waste on League updates."_

After that, Diana had been more than willing to cut the vigilante some slack in his attendance. Now it was just a mild amusement to her. In fact, she found herself agreeing more and more with the vigilante as time went by.

Thus her teasing, or so she saw it. His non-reactions, such as they were, caged in raw emotion, ones she was intent on seeing if only to see the vigilante lose his cool just once. In a battle of attrition, time was the determining factor and the Amazon understood this well.

Of course, other members saw her actions...differently.

"Look on the bright side," Hawkgirl was saying, drawing the dark-haired woman's attention back to the meeting at hand. "We haven't had to worry about extra revenue for awhile. That cuts down on budgeting. Remember how long it used to take?"

Flash visibly shuddered. "Don't remind me."

That was also another change within the League. During their inception and the months that followed, obtaining currency had been an issue. Their expenses were much larger than the donations they received from the local government and other groups. Since the Justice League refused to do corporate sponsorships, most big businesses kept their distance as well as other political groups. That wasn't to say they had offers to support various causes, but it was made known that the League would not promote the interests of one group—or in other cases, products—over another.

The month following Batman's acceptance into the League had also delivered them a balanced budget. It was never said out loud, but it was highly suspected the vigilante simply paid for the outstanding expenses and never said a word about it. In fact, Diana was pretty sure this arrangement would have continued unabated.

And then Flash decided that the League headquarters needed massive upgrades, though none of it towards surveillance or technological improvement. The break room had been refurbished with new appliances. A new refrigerator, coffee machine, pinball machine, and other banal entertainment devices had magically appeared.

The next meeting Batman ended up attending if only to personally hand Flash each and every receipt. That had single-handedly confirmed who was footing the bill and made it clear that the League was not receiving—as Superman said—a blank check. Needless to say, the pinball machine was returned, the coffee machine generously paid for by the vigilante—the old one had needed to be replaced anyways—and Flash was still paying off the refrigerator.

"For once, our maintenance budget did not exceed its allocation," J'onn reported. "All computer systems are current. I do not foresee any pending expenses for upgrades in the coming month."

"On-the-job destruction?" Hawkgirl prompted.

"That is, of course, our largest expense. We were up from the previous month's cost."

"You know, you would think the local govs would understand that when fighting in their cities, we can't prevent damages."

"That's what happens when you get bean counters involved," John grunted out in response. "They obviously thought that if they can't pay for it, they'll get someone else to—namely us."

To be honest, Diana could see the meeting devolving into mindless boredom, which helped her understand Flash's complaint. At least it was almost over though. Hopefully more exciting things were in store once the meeting ended.


	2. Armegeddon

It was to bemusement and curiosity that Bruce stared at the gigantic computer screen. The view was shaky due to the constant movements of the camera. Cassandra's face filled out most of the screen, her eyes alight with an intense focus. At the corner of her mouth, the tip of her tongue was poking out, her lips pulled together tightly as her face took on a concentrated stare.

Turning his chair around, the dark-haired man quickly located the girl, who was seated on the floor of the cave, her legs crossed in front of her in what children referred to as "Indian-style." In one hand she held her Batgirl mask, one that had been modified recently. Where the eye holes were now had black lens in place, the source of the footage currently playing out on the super-computer.

It had been a curious choice, Bruce admitted. When he had been making the modifications to the Batgirl armor, Cassandra had taken an active role in what was apart of its makeup. Seeing as she would be the one using it, Bruce allowed her to direct him with how to upgrade the suit. Though she had been puzzled by the camera lens he wanted to place in the mask, she had defiantly refused the standard white lens he used, urging for the black ones.

And yet, Cassandra still wasn't happy with the final product. Since yesterday she had been staring at the mask, trying to puzzle out what she found wrong with it. Now though, it seemed she had found some sort of solution, one she hadn't shared yet with the billionaire.

There was sewing supplies placed around the girl, who held her mask in one hand. With the other, she was placing in a recently-cut piece of Kevlar in the mouth hole. Watching in his own armor, his mask lying on the computer console behind him, Bruce observed her actions as she finally reached out to a pre-threaded needle and moved it to the mask.

The moment she began sewing the Kevlar piece onto the mask, Bruce couldn't help but narrow his eyes. Already an image of what the mask would look like flashed into his mind and he wasn't sure he quite liked it. It reminded him too much of the Talon mask, albeit with bat features. He wasn't sure if this was some dormant training, or memory that demanded she dress that way or not, but he would need to monitor her closely should other parts of her past decide to force certain fatal instincts.

Resisting the urge to sigh, Bruce turned away from the girl as she worked, hitting a button on the keyboard to remove the accumulating footage. The lens worked, so that test was finished.

Fingers dancing in a practiced motion on the keys, a new window popped up, one of a headline of a newspaper from Toronto. A large picture of a wealthy man being escorted by Canadian Mounties soaked up his attention. That was the latest bust in his on-going crusade against the Court of Owls. The man's name didn't really matter at this point, but the ones he had given up upon interrogation were.

Silently, Bruce considered a thought. Perhaps the next few Court members would be a good opportunity to test Cassandra in the field. Ever since his bust of Theodore van Haussen, more and more Court members had been keeping Talons as guards for his impending arrival. He had no doubt the next target would do the same. Having Cassandra fight skilled fighters with the intent to kill her would place her in a unique situation she might not find herself again. Fighting Gotham thugs was one thing; fighting deadly martial artists was a whole different league.

A soft, sharp sound was made, causing Bruce to frown. If he wasn't mistaken, it sounded as if a needle had been dropped on the floor. Spinning his chair around, he found Cassandra holding up her mask at face level, her arms extended out as far as they would reach. Turning her head around, a look of joy was on her face, much like an excited child who had ripped through their Christmas presents.

If there was any doubt in Bruce's mind of taking the girl in when he had, they were wiped away at this very moment. When he had first encountered her, she had been an emotionless robot. After saving her, she had slowly, yet gradually lost that cold exterior, acting more and more childlike. Of course, situation dictated how she acted; when it came to the Court of Owls case file, she was completely serious. She was the same way too when she demanded he wake up in the morning. However, when she learned a new word, one of the few she had come to master, her entire face would light up, soaking in his praise as much as she could.

"Bring it here," the dark-haired man said as he rested comfortably in his chair. Jumping up onto her feet, Cassandra quickly hurried over to him, thrusting her mask towards him to show her work.

The image Bruce had when he figured out what she was doing was definitely off. He had been expecting something closer to a full face mask with no evidence to the changes made. Instead, he could plainly differentiate between the mask and the additional Kevlar. Large stitches were observable, connecting the two pieces together. There was a menacing effect to the look.

After staring at the final product for awhile, Bruce found himself glancing to Cassandra. Apparently he must have been staring for a long time because the excited look on her face had dulled, a sense of uncertainty beginning to show in her body language. Looking at her for a moment, Bruce finally let the corner of his mouth twitch up, forming a small smile.

That was all it took for Cassandra's exuberance to return full force, a huge smile threatening to swallow her entire face. She then spun around, once more holding her mask up high as she regarded it before she began to wander towards a mannequin stand. On it was the rest of her armor, gleaming in the lighting of the cave.

A sigh left Bruce's lips. The day she took that suit out for her first patrol was coming quickly. He wasn't sure if he was going to be ready for that. Turning back around to look at the image of the Toronto newspaper, he considered his idea again.

It really wasn't a bad one at all.

Suddenly, a beeping sound filled the cave, causing the billionaire's eyes to narrow. That was the sound to his Justice League communicator reporting an incoming transmission. Hitting a flashing button on his keyboard, he spoke in a gravelly tone, "Batman here."

"Batman," the voice of Wonder Woman flowed through the speakers, an urgent tone noticeable. "There's a situation in Central City. We need you to come to HQ immediately."

Instantly, Bruce was pulling his mask on, activating its systems a moment later. "Do I have time to fly there, or—"

"No, we're prepping the transporter. Prepare for transport in sixty seconds."

That caused Batman to frown. Typing on the keyboard, he hacked into the Central City Traffic Control Grid. It was a simple program to run, taking no more than ten, fifteen seconds max. A grid of windows appeared on his screen, showing a multitude of images of various traffic cameras throughout the city.

What he saw he didn't like.

* * *

Life in Central City was always an adventure and a fun one at that. The people were friendly, the ones that weren't usually kept to themselves, and the bad ones rarely poked their heads out of the holes they hid themselves in unless they thought that maybe, just maybe, they were fast enough to pull a job.

Of course, there was _no one_ faster than the Flash.

Case in point, the First Central Bank was currently being robbed. Flash had been clear across town, enjoying one of Pete's World Famous Burgers when a police officer was hailed over his radio about the crime-in-progress. Someone had tripped the silent alarm apparently. Graciously polishing off his burger, Flash took off through the streets, arriving mere seconds outside the bank itself.

The doors had been damage, that much he could see. Someone had a itchy trigger finger since the damage had been caused by gunfire. Because there wasn't a door in his way, he could still hear someone demanding, "—on the floor and no one gets hurt!"

Time to make an introduction.

The world slowing around him, Flash ran into the bank, coming to a stop right next to the bank vault. Because the door was still shut, the hero took to leaning his back against it, arms crossed over his chest as he lazily looked at the crooks and, man, were they just cliche! Ski masks, black turtlenecks, and Uzis—what more could a bank robbery ask for?

No one had noticed him either, the robbers facing the trembling bank employees and customers on the floor. There were a ton of things the red-clad man could have done, or said at that moment, but he decided simple was best.

"Ahem."

Whipping around, the robbers stared at him owlishly, surprised by his awesomeness. "Ya know, guys, I would get a different tailor if I were you. I mean, you couldn't have worn anything else that didn't scream you were bad guys."

"Crap, it's the Flash!" one of the gunman cried.

"And pleased to make your acquaintance," Flash replied, though it was obvious those words weren't directed at him. "So how about you guys just put your guns down and—"

"I'll put you down!" one of the robbers screamed as he began raising his gun.

In the blink of an eye, Flash was running. Each man seemed to be going in slow motion as he approached them, each one trying to point their weapons at the hero.

First thing's first, he needed to disarm these guys before someone got hurt. Starting from the right and moving left, Flash snatched each and every gun he spotted, even the ones hanging in their holsters. In a red blur, he took the guns and stashed them in a nearby, and more importantly empty, office. Faintly, he was aware of the big clock hanging above the entrance, the seconds hand clicking to the right by one.

By the time it moved a second time, Flash had raced by each and every one of the robbers, grabbing the waistband of their underwear and stretching them up as high as he could before he wrapped them around each man's head. An atomic wedgie was just what Dr. Flash ordered.

By the time he stopped, standing on top of the bank counter, each robber was crying out in surprise, their heads uncomfortably pulled back. There were a lot of tighty-whities showing, two men having opted for boxers, even though that didn't save them the indignity of being wedgie-fied. One guy even lost his balance and fell backwards, landing hard on his rump as he let out a howl.

"Now, I'm not a cruel guy," Flash said as he watched humorously as the robbers waved their arms around, a few trying to undo his handiwork, "so I'll give you all a choice. Surrender before I get really serious, or keep resisting and be ready for more pain."

"You won't get away with this!" one of the men shouted.

Smile dropping from his face, Flash then took off, closing the distance between him and the enraged robber, and slammed his fist into the man's face. Said robber dropped to the floor in a heap, never to wake up a free man again.

In the blink of an eye, he was back on top of the counter, hands casually resting on his hips. "Anyone else want to sound like a corny cartoon villain?" the Fastest Man Alive asked.

It seemed his words got through this time too as each remaining man decided to sit down as best they could, not even a whimper coming out of their mouths. Smirking, Flash dusted his hands off, officially done with his job.

"Thanks a lot, Flash," a security guard said, approaching the bank counter as he adjusted the hat on his head. "I think my partner and I can take care of everything from here."

"That's what I like to hear, Charlie," Flash said before he hopped off the counter, landing on the floor. "They're all yours."

The next moment, Flash was running out the bank door, leaving a red blur in his wake. However, he wasn't fast enough not to hear the guard say, "But my name's Richard."

 _Whoops._

Reaching the street and taking a sharp left, Flash was blocks away by the time he hit traffic. Considering it was late afternoon, it wasn't as heavy as it would be soon. Keeping to the center line, he passed between cars before they even knew he was there. At one point he slowed down to wave hi to a kid in the backseat, right before he sped up again.

These were the times Flash enjoyed most, just seeing everyone going about their way, little kids staring at him with bug eyes as he passed by. It meant that everything was humming along, no monkey wrenches wrecking up the works.

Of course, there were two such wrenches. One was of the criminal persuasion that he had ended effortlessly. The second was human error. See, people weren't born with the innate ability to drive a car and do something else, not without screwing up someone's day royally.

As it so happened, six intersections down, that very scenario played out. The only warning Flash got was the blaring of a car horn and the squealing of tires scraping on the pavement as two cars crashed into each other. It was a beauty of a T-bone wreck as one car rammed its bumper right into the side of another. The cars nearest the wreck hit their collective breaks, red lights flashing down each lane of cars like a columns of dominoes.

Flash was the only one that didn't slow down, not that he had to worry about hitting a car in front of him. Instead he picked up speed, racing down the center strip and stopping right next to the broad-sided car. Dust and dirt were kicked up as he slid to a stop, his hand grabbing onto the front door handle and opening it.

"Hey, you okay in here?" Flash asked as he poked his head in.

The driver was a cross between hurting and anger. "How the hell do you think I am, ya moron!" he screamed, incensed eyes glaring daggers at the hero. "That idiot just totaled my car! And my neck hurts! I am so suing their ass!"

And that's where Flash got off. It was fine helping people out and all, but when someone was threatening legal action, he found it best to be the fastest person out of there. "Ah, well, you just stay where you are. Don't want you hurting anything else and all. I'll just be—"

Streaking around the car, Flash raced to the other vehicle before finishing, "—checking on the other driver." Peaking through what was once a window, shards of glass lying all over the ground and inside the car, Flash noticed a woman leaning forward, her forehead pressed against the steering wheel, eyes squeezed shut.

"Ma'am, are you okay?" he inquired.

"I...I think so," the woman mumbled out. "Oh God, I did not need this today. I'm so going to be late!"

And people had their priorities all over the place. This was going to be fun...not. Resisting the urge to sigh, Flash held a hand out to the woman. "We're going to take this easy, ma'am. I'm going to get you out of your car. We'll settle everything else once everyone isn't sitting in this wreck."

Instead of taking his head, the woman continued to sit in her seat, pressing her head harder against the steering wheel. Of course, that's when the guy in the other car just had to make himself known.

"Hey, bitch! You totaled my car!"

 _Some people…_

Turning around, Flash said sternly, "Hey, back off. She didn't mean to hit you. You go stand over there and chill out, alright?"

The man gave him an incredulous look. "You must be joking, heh," he barked back. "I got freaking T-boned! That doesn't just happen by accident!"

This guy was looking for a fight, no question about that. The best way to defuse things was to get him as far away from the woman as possible. In a red blur, Flash raced towards the man, picking him up and carrying him to the sidewalk, right where a bunch of bystanders just happened to be standing. Coming to a stop, he placed the man down on the sidewalk, a slight wind blowing up some dust from his running. The man blinked his eyes for a moment, trying to process all that happened.

"Now you just stand right there and I'll get back to you. So chill out," Flash ordered before he took off back towards the woman. Arriving there in the blink of an eye, he found she was still how he left her. "Sorry about that, ma'am, but some guys can be total jerks."

The women giggled, "hee hee," in response before she glanced to him with gratefulness. "Thank you. This is just too...heh heh."

And then she began to chuckle. It was a little weird and the woman even admitted as much. "I don't know why I'm laughing," she said between chuckles. "I just can't help it."

In his time as a hero, Flash had seen many things, but every once in awhile someone would just start laughing for no better reason than as a defense mechanism. He was willing to bet that was what was going on now. "Hey, sometimes we can't help it. You just have to laugh. Why, I remember getting this mustard stain on my costume once and that sucker just wouldn't come out. I spent an entire afternoon trying to get it out!"

That made the woman laugh harder, tears beginning to leak out. Flash couldn't help but smile at that. It was a definite improvement over her near-crying.

Apparently his story was a good one as he picked up the sounds of giggling from around him. Heh, he knew he was a funny guy. Who knew he could make something as mundane as stain removal funny? Perhaps he needed to pick up a new day job after all.

"I'm gonna pound your skull in, you bitch, ha ha!"

Flash couldn't help but scowl. Turning around, he saw the man again, though he looked paler than he had a few moments ago. Couldn't that guy just stay out of this? He was only going to make things worse. "Hey, buddy, I already told you to—"

Blatantly ignoring him, the man stormed up towards Flash, placing a hand on the red-clad hero to push him aside. Surprisingly the man had some strength as he shoved him back a couple steps. Getting over his astonishment, Flash immediately darted in front of the man and put a firm hand on his shoulder. "Nuh uh, you're not going anywhere near her."

The man barked out with laughter. "You ain't stopping nothing, you pyjama-wearing nerd! Ha ha ha!" It was at this point Flash couldn't help but notice the man's eyes were beginning to bulge out of their sockets, his lips taking on a noticeable red. The veins in his neck were practically popping out as his mouth twisted into a wide smile. "And I don't care if I have to rip you to pieces to get to her!"

"I want a piece of him too!" Surprise covered Flash's face before he jerked his head around. The woman in the car was climbing out, her face looking exactly like the man, a cackling laughter slipping out of her grinning mouth.

"Uhh, you two hold onto that thought for a second," Flash spoke before he took off, dashing towards one side of the intersection before stopping. Looking back at the wrecked cars as the two driver continued to laugh, the red-clad hero couldn't help but wonder what the hell was going on. One moment they were pissed about a wreck, the next they seemed to want a piece of the speedster.

"I wonder if his blood is just as red as his costume, ha ha!"

Whipping around, the bystanders he had left the male driver with were closing in on him, their faces pale with wide smiles, arms raised up ready to grab at him at an instant. Flash couldn't help the sinking feeling in his stomach, confusion addling his mind.

Seriously, what the hell was going on here?!

The moment a hand grabbed his shoulder from behind, the speedster reacted, spinning around to see one of those smiling ghouls bearing down at him. "Hands off!" he shouted as he slammed a fist into the man's face, knocking him clear off his feet and sending him tumbling to the ground.

Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around his torso, followed by a body ramming into his back. As if that were a cue, more and more of these grinning people jumped at him, piling on him as they dragged him down towards the ground. On instinct Flash struggled, trying to wiggling himself out of the vice-like grip he found himself in. A chorus of creepy laughter filled the air as he found himself losing the battle.

 _No...no! Not like this!_

Fear filled Flash and he reacted much like he had done as a little boy: try to get away as fast as possible. Since he still had his feet holding him up, albeit with his legs bent at the knee, he straightened his legs as much as he could with the crushing weight of bodies on top of him. Immediately, he began spinning around at super-speeds, his body becoming a miniature, red tornado.

The arms that held him were slowly pulled away from him as people were thrown off of him and through the air. This caused a small space to form around him and the crowd of giggling maniacs. The moment he stopped spinning, Flash bolted, a red streak that blasted through the mob, knocking bodies out of his way as he did so.

Soon, he was all by himself, racing down the street. Reaching a new intersection, one that was coincidentally empty of cars for some reason, Flash finally came to a stop, his head turned to look in the direction he had just came from. His heart was pounding in his chest, though it wasn't from the exertion.

"Heh heh."

Flash stiffened. Slowly, he turned his head and found himself in an eerily familiar position. Pale-faced people were approaching him from the sidewalk much like the ones at the previous intersection were. It was deja vu all over again.

 _Oh no, not this again._ Steeling his face, Flash didn't let these new freakazoids swarm him, blasting off down the street instantly. Arms pumping at his side, he raced from intersection to intersection, down one road and then another. Eyes darting from side to side, he searched for a place didn't wasn't filled with cackling hyena people.

Of course, that's when a car tried to hit him.

Catching sight of it as it swerved at him, Flash forced himself to slow down, allowing what turned out to be a cop car to pull in front of him. Moving into the lane the squad car had been in previously, the red-clad man sped up until he could peer into the car through the open front passenger window.

The sight of a cop with a wide smile on his face looking back at him was the last thing he wanted to see.

He needed to get off the road. It was obvious this guy wanted a giant red Flash spatter on his squad car and that would endanger too many people. Speeding up, the hero dashed away from the police car, leaving it in his dust. Reaching a T-intersection up ahead, the hero didn't bother changing directions as much as he changed angles, his world doing a sharp ninety degree angle the moment his foot touched the building. He shot up the side of the structure until he reached the top, his momentum carrying him up into the air before gravity forced him back, Flash landing on top of the building easily.

 _Okay, dude, you need to start making some sense out of this because nothing is._ Taking a deep breath, Flash attempted to calm himself. He didn't work very well when he was anxious and this situation was definitely making him feel that way. Once he calmed down, he'd start putting two and two together.

Unfortunately, no amount of deep breaths would help as he noticed rising clouds of smoke scattered throughout the city. A horrified expression covering his face, Flash began looking in all directions, seeing more and more smoke clouds beginning to rise. Darting from one side of the building to the other, Flash began seeing people running through the streets, purposefully causing damage wherever they went. Though faint, he could make out the cackling hyena laughter as Central City was changed into a war zone—hell, it was beginning to look like a zombie apocalypse and not the good kind either.

Then again, what zombie apocalypse was a good one?

His hand began to tremble at his side. He…he didn't know what to do. Sure he had seen his fair share of city-wide crises, even world-wide ones at times, but none of them had been like this, the denizens of Central City being the cause of the destruction rather than fleeing from it. This happened in more violence-ridden cities, never here, where the people were kind and happy and willing to give him free food at a moment's notice.

He...he needed some help.

Shakily, he raised his hand up and somehow managed to activate his Justice League communicator. "Flash to League, Flash to League, I've got an emergency here."

What followed was perhaps the longest ten seconds of his life. Time was normally slow for him, but in this instance it truly dragged until he heard the familiar and comforting tone of J'onn answer him. " _This is League Headquarters, state your emergency, Flash."_

Staring out into the unraveling city, Flash had many words that passed through his head, but only one of them really stuck.

"Armageddon, J'onn. Armageddon."


	3. Laughing Lantern

" _That's right, Tom, we have just received word that Central City has been sealed off to prevent the spread of this unknown disease. Governor Winslow has declared a state of emergency and requested the National Guard to be positioned outside the city limits. Barricades are currently being erected, but whether they will be effective in their use remains to be seen."_

On screen was a reporter wearing a yellow poncho and holding a microphone with the letters CNN boldly painted on it. Though the guy was your run-of-the-mill correspondent, the scene behind him was most captivating. Central City had several plumes of smoke rising from within its skyscrapers, the glows of what had to be fires scattered randomly throughout. It was much how Flash had left it when he had been teleported to the Justice League HQ.

And all Flash could do was stare helplessly at the screen, his stomach twisting in knots with grief and shame.

Currently the hero was in the med bay—on orders of J'onn due to the outbreak—sitting on one of the beds as his legs dangled off the side. He was hunched over, every passing second of his dying city feeling like pure agony. Yet, he wasn't alone in his anguish.

GL was standing at the foot of the bed, his arms crossed over his chest, a stoic look on his face. The Lantern hadn't left his side since he arrived and hadn't said a comforting word, much to Flash's relief. He wasn't sure how he would react if someone told him everything would be okay. Nothing would be okay, not after the hell he had been through.

Suddenly, the television turned off, breaking Flash out of his angsty thoughts. "That's enough of that," John said, standing right underneath the TV with an arm extended up to hit the power button. Flash hadn't even seen him move, so he was surprised by the mysterious teleporting that must have happened. Turning around, GL then said, "We're going to get to the bottom of this, one way or another."

"Are we?" the red-clad man whispered softly. "I can't see how. You don't know what it was like out there."

"You would be surprised," John replied, walking over to the bed. "I was on Rijal Seven once where a similar outbreak happened. _Night of the Walking Dead_ kind of stuff. Managed to contain it before it consumed the entire planet."

"Oh, how good for you," Flash spat out bitterly. "So how did you stop the zombies, huh? I'm pretty sure you had to kill them all, right?"

John frowned, but hesitantly responded, "Well, yeah—"

Instantly Flash was on his feet, jabbing a finger at his friend's chest. "Exactly. You had to _kill_ them. Central City is a freaking breeding ground of zombies right now. Anyone that isn't one will be one soon; which means we're going to have to _exterminate_ an _entire_ city. _My_ city."

Jerking away, Flash couldn't help pacing back and forth through the room, going faster with every pass he made. In the meantime, GL didn't seem to take his outburst negatively, instead taking a seat on the bed the Fastest Man Alive had just vacated. "I feel for you, Flash, I really do; but now is not the time to lose our heads. Right now we have to determine what caused this outbreak and when we do, we can see if we can reverse that. No one is going to kill anyone, not when we're not even sure what we're dealing with."

That made Flash slow his pace a step, but he was still going at a pretty good clip. His hands clasped together tightly behind his back as his face was doing its best Batman impression—meaning he was well on his way to looking like a constipated gargoyle. Heh, Bats wouldn't like someone else encroaching on his territory.

"Everyone is being called on this too, even the reserves. Trust me, Flash, we _will_ get to the bottom of this. We _will_ save Central City."

"I'm glad someone is confident."

Flash had just turned to walk back the way he came, which gave him a good view of John. Because of this, he saw the scowl on the Lantern's face. "You cut that out right now. Moping isn't going to get us anywhere and we're going to need you to fix things as soon as possible. Now quit your bellyaching and let's get to work."

Flash sighed, his shoulders sagging, though he didn't stop his pacing, reaching his turnaround point and spinning around to continue his walking. Though it was tough love, GL was right. This negative thinking wasn't going to get him anywhere nor would it help anyone. Alright, it was time to put on his big boy shoes and do some work.

Still, he couldn't help himself when he replied, "You really know how to be a hard ass, you know that?"

Thankfully John chuckled in response. "Damn straight."

Flash finally slowed down, nearly coming to a stop. He would have stopped had he not heard a familiar sound, which immediately prompted him to use his super speed to lunge forward.

Head jerking to a side, he saw a green beam fly right where over the space he had just vacated, his back feeling the heat from it. "What the hell?!" he demanded loudly as he turned his eyes to GL.

Only to feel his stomach drop as he noticed the slow paling of John's face coupled with the growing grin on his face. The Lantern had one arm raised, his ring sparking with green energy. "Nice dodge. Let's see if you can do it again, ha ha!"

And then the ring fired again.

* * *

The Monitor Womb was one of the most technologically sophisticated rooms in the Justice League Headquarters. Not only did it contain the teleportation equipment, but it was also the hub for surveillance throughout the world. Most of the computers and monitors geared towards this purpose were in the corner of the room, right where a large screen hung from the wall.

Currently, the screen was displaying an aerial shot of Central City. A news team had gotten a hold of a helicopter and were flying over the city, providing images of the destruction in the streets. People were scurrying around like tiny ants, bashing cars and breaking down doors and windows of buildings with various hand-held weapons. Smoke was billowing out of many of the buildings and from vehicles.

It was no wonder Flash was so despondent.

There was no reason for it, not any that had been discerned yet. Flash's description of things had been strange with no evidence of what had actually caused the outbreak. However, it was readily apparently the longer this went on, the more manic those infected became. Sooner or later, something would give; either Central City ran out of property to destroy, or the mania would consumed its people. Neither was an option the League wanted to find out.

The only two in the Monitor Womb were Diana and J'onn. Batman had been summoned mere moments ago and they were waiting for his arrival. Superman and Hawkgirl were handling a situation in the Himalayas and were thus not expected to be available for the time being. With John comforting Flash in the med bay, that left them accountable for everyone at the moment.

Of course, Diana would have preferred to be out in the streets doing something about this. It rankled at her that she was currently sidelined, though not by her choice. J'onn had refused to send a team in without more intel lest one of them became infected and joined in the destruction. It was sound thinking, don't get her wrong, but she just rather be doing something other than watching.

The were both quiet as they stared at the screen, Diana because she had nothing worth saying that wouldn't remedy the situation, and J'onn because he was actually searching through the mental plane for answers. His eyes glowed a brilliant orange, signifying he was telepathically seeking out a composed mind in Central City.

As luck would have it, J'onn's eyes dimmed to their normal hue, indicating he had finished his sweep. Focusing his attention on the Amazon, he said, "Nothing. All I can sense is madness and terror. Any rational thought is currently being overpowered by basic instinct."

That wasn't the answer Diana had been hoping for. "We cannot continue to stay out of action for fear of the unknown," she spoke in frustration.

"Not without the proper safety equipment," the Martian responded evenly, not the least bit irritated with her. "If you were to succumb to the mania—"

"Then I could cause even more harm," Diana finished for him. "I know...I know..." she trailed off in acceptance.

"It isn't easy to feel helpless."

"No, it isn't."

A humming sound filled the room, causing both heroes to turn towards the teleportation pad. A bright light emerged from the pad, becomingly eye-burningly painful, before fading away and leaving the shrouded form of Batman. He didn't so much as greet them as he strode off the platform, making his way towards them. "Any developments," he stated the moment he reached them.

"What you see is what you get," Diana replied, a smile appear on her face. It was almost reassuring to see Batman's no-nonsense approach in light of what was transpiring.

"Any indication as to its cause and transmission?"

It was J'onn who answered the vigilante this time. "No to either. Flash was at Ground Zero and said the mania seemed to come out of nowhere and spread just as quickly."

"And Flash is…?

"In the med bay with Green Lantern."

The Dark Knight went still, something Diana was able to notice, which caused her to frown. His sudden hesitation set off alarms in her head, even as the dark-clad man turned his head to give J'onn his full attention.

As if to compound things, Flash's voice blasted out of the speakers in the room. " _Guys! I have a situation in here! GL's gone berserk!"_

A mad dash ensured between the three heroes as they charged to a nearby computer console. As it turned out, Batman reached it first, immediately bringing up the security cameras inside the med bay.

Much to Diana's horror, she saw Flash racing about the room, a continuous blur that seemed to have no end. John, on the other hand, was zig-zagging through the air, firing energy blasts from his rings, his target being his comrade.

Suddenly, blast doors began sliding down in front of the med bay doors. Flash seemed to notice this as he exclaimed over his comm, " _Hey, what the hell?! Why are you locking me in?!"_

Diana was confused for a moment before she noticed Batman's extended hand, a finger jammed on top of a button on the console—no doubt the one that activated the blast doors. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Flash is a carrier," Batman responded calmly, his eyes never moving from the screen, or so she thought. It was hard to know where he was looking at because of his mask. "He seems to be immune to whatever is infecting Lantern, but that means he carrying it on his person. He can't leave that room until we know he's been decontaminated."

"But that leaves him trapped with Green Lantern," J'onn pointed out, his voice the same calm as the vigilante's, much to Diana's growing irritation. "He cannot wait out Lantern's ring to run out of power."

"Then he needs to knock Lantern out."

J'onn regarded Batman coolly before he nodded his agreement. Reaching a hand to his ear, he activated his own comm link and said, "Flash, you need to subdue Green Lantern by whatever means necessary."

" _Yeah, I was kinda thinking the same thing,"_ came the speedster's response. " _You know, since you locked me in here and all."_

During that exchange, Batman seemed to be focusing on the computer screen, his eyes boring into the image. Fingers dancing over the keyboard, the image froze before it began to zoom in on John. Curiously, Diana watched the vigilante as he worked and it was because of this she witnessed his face hardening at what he saw.

Suddenly, Batman was standing at his full height, turning around and marching towards the room's exit. "I'm going to the med bay," he declared just before the doors slid open and he passed through the doorway.

Startled, Diana looked to J'onn, who was returning her look of confusion. Their minds kick-starting at the same time, the two gave chase to the vigilante, catching up with him in the hallway. "Slow down, Batman," the Amazon called out as she caught up with him, matching his stride. "You just put the med bay under lock down. Why would you try to go inside now?"

"I need confirmation on what this infection is," the Dark Knight answered her as he took a turn at an intersecting corridor. He didn't go too far down this one as he stopped at a nearby door, opening it a moment later. Peering through the threshold, Diana was greeted with the sight of hazmat suits and protective medical equipment. Batman was currently grabbing one of the hazmat suits and was putting it on over his costume.

"Do you think this is a wise course of action? I know the hazmat suit will provide you protection from what plagues John, but he still is a threat," the Amazon Princess inquired, one of her hands moving to rest against her hip. "If he damages your suit, that'll leave you vulnerable to the disease."

"He won't be," came his clipped response while he sealed the suit up. "J'onn, is there a sedative available outside of the med bay?"

"I believe there should be one in one of our First Aid kits," the Martian answered.

"Bring it to the med bay, but do not open the doors, even if Flash has given the all clear. I'm also going to need to take samples from both Flash and Green Lantern—blood, saliva, urine, the whole works. Until we determine how this designed hot agent was administered, I don't want anyone going in or out of the med bay unless they're appropriately protected."

J'onn merely nodded before he took off down the hall in search of Batman's requests. In the meantime, Diana stayed with the vigilante. She still had some questions. "What makes you so sure this was designed?" she asked. "Isn't that sort of thing highly restricted?"

"Green Lantern's face," Batman replied just before he placed the hazmat helmet over his head. He then proceeded to lock it in place, ensuring a seal. Because of this, he didn't elaborate, which only fueled the dark-haired woman's growing curiosity.

Though Batman believed that to be an answer, Diana couldn't see how that was sufficient. "What about it?" she prodded.

"Pale face, wide smile, eyes bulging out of their sockets," Batman rattled off as he moved towards her, passing right by her and making his way—undoubtedly—to the med bay. "I've only seen that combination once." Though she couldn't see his face because she was following him from behind, she didn't have to imagine the scowl that was most surely there as he growled out, "Joker."

Diana frowned. From what she understood of the man, he had an obsession with Batman, choosing to focus his acts of mayhem in Gotham. It seemed strange that he would suddenly take an interest in Central City. In fact, she said as much; "Why would he involve himself in a city he had no previous interest in?"

"That's something we're going to need to figure out before he strikes again."

The Amazon nodded her agreement and understanding even if the Dark Knight couldn't see her do so. His insight into this foe would be invaluable considering their history. Still, that could act as a double-edged sword, where Batman let his prejudices get the better of him. A balance would need to be maintained somehow.

The rest of their journey was done in silence. Batman was focused on the task at hand and Diana had taken to mulling this new information. Eventually they reached the sealed med bay doors, the man stopping to turn towards her. "Once I go inside, no matter what happens, do not open up these doors," he told her. "Do not let anyone in or out unless I give the all-clear. The last thing anyone needs is for this to infect anymore Justice League members."

Diana once again nodded sharply. "You can count on me."

That was when J'onn returned, his body phasing through the floor until he reached his full height, his form filling in a moment later. "I've brought the sedative," he announced before his moved an arm out from beneath his cape. In his large hand was a syringe, a plastic cap covering the needle.

Batman didn't even hesitate as he reached out and accepted the syringe. "I'm assuming you heard."

J'onn nodded. "I did."

"Good." The vigilante then tilted his head to a side. "Flash, status report."

There was a moment before a reply came. " _Just about got things wrapped up in here. Give me...two minutes."_

"You have one." Batman then looked to J'onn. "Get ready to open the blast doors."

* * *

There was only so much real estate in a tiny room. It didn't help matters that furniture was knocked over and scattered about the room at very inconvenient places. Still, Flash could work with it.

He had no other choice.

Making another lap, he heard the constant blasts from GL's ring, the beams exploding on walls, floor, and what was left of the beds and chairs. He was actually pretty thankful his friend was so fixated on using his energy beams than actually using a construct. The speedster repressed a shudder at that thought. There was no telling what the man would make in his current state of mind.

"C'mon, you can run faster!" John gloated, firing another barrage of blasts. "Run, Flash, run!"

Flash scowled at the goad. He was really getting sick of this. First his city was going up in flames and now his best friend was trying to make him a young corpse. This day was totally for the birds.

So he decided to change things up. Heading for a wall, instead of running with it, he ran onto it, the room itself turning ninety degrees as he shot up the wall. Reaching the ceiling, the room turned again, leaving him racing in an upside-down med bay.

However, he didn't keep running, instead pushing off with his feet and flying like a missile through the air. John never stood a chance as the red-clad man rammed into him, wrapping his arms around the dark-skinned man, tackling him in midair. The two men tumbled out of the air, landing hard on the ground. Unable to keep his grasp, Flash bounced off the Green Lantern, rolling over the floor until he came to a stop.

"Ow," he groaned as he slowly pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. That had been interesting. While he wouldn't want to try that again any time soon, at least it got the job done.

"Heh he he he ha ha," GL giggled then, also starting to push himself up. His pale face looked right at Flash, looking exactly like the people in Central City. "Didn't your coach ever tell you to always wrap up when you tackle?" he taunted.

 _Oh, c'mon!_ Even at a time like this, GL could joke around? That was his job! And the joke could really use some work, let him tell you.

 _"Flash, status report."_

Oh, now Bats wanted to talk. He didn't bother asking him when he shut the blast doors, but now he wanted to know how he was doing? Freaking crazy vigilantes...

"Just about got things wrapped up in here," Flash replied, diverting his attention from GL. _"_ _Give me...two minutes."_

Hearing the tell-tale sound of the power ring, Flash darted his eyes back to John, widening them as he saw a wicked-looking boxing glove—just think of your standard, run-of-the-mill boxing gloves, only green, giant, and with a hundred spikes sticking out of it—flying right towards him. Dashing to a side, he dodged the attack, hearing it hit the wall somewhere behind him.

 _"You have one,"_ Batman responded, only adding to Flash's ire. Oh sure, he could make such demands. After all, he wasn't fighting a laughing zombie version of a Green Lantern.

"Oh sure, I'll get right on it," Flash grumbled, even as he began dodging from his left to his right and back, more green energy beams flying at him. "It's not like I can knock a guy out in less than sixty seconds. I'm not that—"

Wait, what was he saying? He was fast enough to knock someone out in a minute; hell, he could do it in a second if he wanted to. Well, right now called for that minute. Steeling himself, even as he ducked by another flying blast, Flash prepared to give GL one hell of a headache when he woke up.

"Sorry buddy, but this is going to hurt you a lot more than it's going to hurt me."

* * *

Batman stood within the med bay, the blast doors once more sliding into place behind him. The room before him was a mess. Beds, cabinets, and furniture were tossed about, littering the floor as debris. There were scorch marks on the walls indicating several explosions had been detonated.

And in the middle of the room sat Green Lantern, his head slump forward as a cable wrapped around his body, pinning his arms to his sides. Next to him stood Flash, who was dusting his hands in the gesture of a finished job. "You sure took your time," he remarked. "Mind rolling up those doors again? I really want to get out of here."

"You're not going anywhere," Batman replied as he marched up to the seemingly unconscious Lantern. Raising up his syringe, he removed the cap and quickly stabbed the needle into Green Lantern's upper arm. Depressing the plunger, he injected the sedative as quickly as he could, pulling the needle out a moment later and activating the safety lock to cover up the sharp tip. "Get him on a bed and restrain him."

There was a sigh before Flash responded, "Aye, aye, Captain." In a blur of red, the speedster took off, turning a nearby overturned bed back onto its legs, Green Lantern's body appearing on the mattress a moment later.

Turning away, Batman made his way to a cabinet that miraculously went unscathed. Opening it, he was quick to find an airgun, a couple of empty vials lying next to it. Picking up the airgun, he placed a vial into its chamber before returning to the two Leaguers.

Flash was just putting the finishing touches on the restraints when Batman arrived. Placing a small needle on the barrel and securing it, he then pressed it into the crook of the unconscious man's arm, drawing blood into vial.

"How many of those are you going to need?" the red-clad man asked after a couple moments.

"Not much," Batman answered. Pulling the airgun away and holding it up so he could view the blood sample, he mentally calculated if it would be enough and settled on a possible maybe. "I'm also going to need a sample from you too."

"Why?" the speedster asked immediately, genuinely confused by the request. However, to his credit, an actual reason hit him a moment later. "To make sure I'm not carrying any of that bad mojo, gotcha." Flash was quick to retrieve his own vial, even going as far as to removing one of his gloves and begin rolling up a sleeve. "So what are we thinking this is?" he spoke mostly for small chat—the man was incapable of keeping quiet after all. "Some sort of zombifying virus?"

"That's what we're here to find out."

"I'm glad you're so confident you can do that. Care to share with the rest of the class how? Some of us don't like to be kept in the dark while people are trying to rip off other people's faces."

Batman deftly ignored the man. Instead he was focusing on a nearby computer console, his mouth twisting into a scowl at the sight of it. Unfortunately, it was damaged, no doubt due to the fight that had been going on in here.

"I'm not going to come down with this like GL, right?" Flash continued, oblivious to the Dark Knight's mood. "I mean, I know we're not the best of friends, but I don't want to start giggling and you decide to bash my head in so that I don't bite you or something."

Even worse, some of the lab equipment he needed was also in a less than workable state. He could see a centrifuge lying against a wall, part of it split open to reveal its mechanical innards. The microscope seemed to be okay, though there was no telling if the lenses were still intact until he looked into them.

"Now that I think about it, why _did_ GL become a zombie? I mean, he wasn't in Central City at all."

He was going to have to move to a lab then. First he needed to collect some more samples, mostly bodily fluids aside from blood.

"It was crazy, I tell ya. One moment he was just sitting there listening to me and the next he was trying to kill me. I'm not going to hold it against him or anything, but it is hard not to take that personally. It's not like I gave him the zombie virus."

There was a brief silence, one that made Batman wonder if Flash was about to stop talking. He was having a slightly difficult time focusing with all that incessant—

"Or did I?"

No, apparently Flash wasn't finished.

"Oh...oh, God. Did I do this to GL? I mean, I know there are some people that can have illnesses and never show that they have it, only to give it to someone else. Is that what's going on? Oh God, it is. It totally is. Oh, GL, I'm sorry, buddy. I didn't mean to make you a zombie. Please don't take that personally."

"Flash," Batman growled.

"I promise I'll pay ya that fifty bucks I owe ya. I'll really do it this time."

"Flash."

"I mean, I might have to borrow a few bucks from Supes, but I'm sure he'll—"

" _Flash!"_

The red-clad man _finally_ stopped blabbering, looking to the vigilante bewilderingly. "What?"

"Shut. Up."

Wisely, the young man took his words to heart, not even letting a sound slip from his lips. Feeling as if he could think, Batman said, "Now, I need you to tell J'onn to set up the closest lab and a mobile decontamination room. Once you do that, I want you to collect samples of saliva, skin, hair, urine, and, if possible, stool from yourself and Green Lantern. After that, you are to strip out of your uniform and entire the decontamination unit. Do you understand?"

Flash slowly nodded. "How fast do you want this?"

"As soon as possible, so get started. You have until J'onn returns to have everything collected."

Feeling confident the younger man would follow his directions, Batman turned his attention elsewhere. Aside from having as many samples he could analyze, a big reason he gave all of those orders was to give Flash something to do so he didn't worry himself into being useless. People preferred being directed in times of high stress, removing all responsibility of thought from them while they focused on mind-numbing tasks. It was considered relieving when someone else took charge.

"Okay, GL, you're probably not going to thank me later for this, but I'm gonna need you to relax every muscle in your body so I can get your pee and poop."

Then again…


	4. Not A Virus

It was strange seeing the large, circular, meeting table half full. In all the years Diana had been in this room, rarely had it had an empty seat, though that number had been rising because of the addition of their seventh member. If one empty seat was slowly becoming the norm though, three empty ones was a foreign concept.

Yet, here they were.

Superman and Hawkgirl were seated in their usual chairs, the same for Diana. Even Flash was in a chair and for once wasn't fidgeting. It wasn't uncommon for the Fastest Man Alive to visibly tremble in his chair, not out of fear mind you, but out of the necessity to keep moving. Had he been instilled the discipline of the Amazon Way, he would have been able to control himself better, much like herself.

In addition, he was wearing a new costume, his old one being confiscated by Batman for unknown reasons. Flash had washed himself in the decontamination unit J'onn had set up, something he said felt like taking a shower in a hurricane.

So it was a testament to how grave of a situation they were in when Flash was ramrod straight and as still as a statue. Hawkgirl was constantly glanceing at the young man, clearly showing she knew something was wrong.

As for the empty chairs, there were good reasons for them. Due to John being sedated, he was unavailable. For J'onn and Batman, the two were currently in a laboratory in the base. To further prove this, a hologram was beaming up from the center of the meeting table, the image of both heroes working in the lab being shown.

Batman took up most of the image, his profile facing them as his arms moved up and down, the man mixing what appeared to be various chemicals in glass vials and beakers. In the background was J'onn, who was performing similar tasks as well. While the Martian was solely focused on his work, Batman was the one speaking to them.

" _Following further analysis, J'onn and I were able to determine that this is not a epidemic outbreak. The samples obtained from Flash and Green Lantern were absent any viral or bacterial materials. Due to the symptoms observed from Lantern, I would have to say this is close to a Joker Venom exposure. Further investigation has led me to believe this is what is also occurring in Central City,"_ the vigilante spoke.

A strip on the left side of the image changed, small boxes appearing in the strip showing what Batman was talking about. Pictures of the riots in Central City were present along with a comparison image of a Joker Venom victim next to it. The similarities were striking in Diana's eyes.

The Amazon's attention was drawn away then as she sensed movement out of the corner of her eye. Glancing to the source, she saw Hawkgirl shuddering in her seat. It took a moment for the dark-haired woman to piece together why the Thanagarian reacted so, but she remembered early on in the League's formative years that she had been affected by the toxin in question.

"So this isn't some zombie virus?" Flash spoke up then, his tone serious.

" _That's right. Because of this, however, we can't assume normal viral transmission to be the reason why Central City has been exposed."_

"How were these people exposed?" Superman asked then, leaning forward in his seat. "From what I understand of this Joker Venom, it's basically a poison, right? So why didn't anyone see it being unleashed?"

Batman didn't answer immediately as he appeared to be focused on measuring out a specific amount of fluid into a beaker. When he deemed he had the appropriate amount, he finally replied, " _That's because we're looking at a different strain."_

That perked Diana's interest. "How does this differ from the normal formula?"

" _From the samples I obtained from Flash and Green Lantern, the concentration of the poison is less than the original toxin. This means that more of it had to accumulate in the affected host's body before symptoms presented themselves. That explains the spreading effect throughout Central City. It was also explain why Flash wasn't affected—his body's metabolism would've broken down the toxin long before it reached the necessary levels."_

"Thank God for small mercies," Flash muttered under his breath, though Diana—and surely Superman—heard every word.

"That still doesn't explain how people were exposed though," Hawkgirl pointed out. "It's a green gas after all. Only colorblind people would've missed it."

"Maybe due to the change in formula it was made colorless," Superman suggested. "If the concentration was decreased, who knows how that would've affected the gas."

" _Superman's on the right track,"_ Batman confirmed before he slid the beaker he was working with to a side. He then disappeared from the screen, J'onn still hard at work in the background. It was several moments before the Dark Knight returned, two large glass bottles in his hands. Placing them down on the table in front him, he began unscrewing their caps before he collected a few more beakers. What the contents were, Diana didn't know due to there being a lack of a label on the glass, or even an identification tag.

Continuing from where he left off, he said, " _Further investigation showed this new toxin on Flash and Green Lantern's bodies and clothes. Further analysis showed the biggest concentrations were on Flash's feet. Extrapo—"_

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Flash suddenly interrupted, sliding towards the front of his seat as his chest pressed into the edge of the table. "How the heck did this stuff get on my feet?"

That was also something Diana was interested in knowing and she looked right at the floating image, waiting for an answer. Batman didn't disappoint. " _As I was saying, the toxin itself isn't in gaseous form, but solid—particularly dust particles. Pollen would be a better description even."_

That was when the image changed, showing a map of Central City. There were dozens upon dozens of red squares throughout the picture, though if Diana was reading it correctly, the squares were shining on roadways. " _Once J'onn and I determined the form of the toxin, J'onn used traffic footage from Central City to determine where the initial poisoning occurred. Long story short, the places indicated on the map are where the first signs of poisoning occurred."_

"So traffic was used to deliver the poison?" Hawkgirl inquired, skepticism obvious in her voice.

The image disappeared then, Batman's taking its place. " _Not exactly. A few experiments showed that the average speed of the cars, while they would've kicked up the pollen, would not have caused it to spread as it did. However, there was one person that was."_

It was then Batman turned his head to regard the room, though it seemed as if he were looking at someone specifically. Diana frowned at this. Glancing around, she soon found herself looking to Flash, who's face was beginning to pale.

Superman appeared to be catching on as well. "You don't mean…" he trailed off.

" _Flash's super speed carried enough force to scatter the pollen all over the city. And because it was clinging to his costume, he brought it to the Justice League Headquarters and incidentally poisoned Green Lantern."_

If anyone could have looked as dejected as Flash did at that moment, Diana wasn't sure who it could've been. The red-clad hero had slumped back into his chair, misery hardly doing justice to describe the way he looked. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly, but no sounds came out.

Ultimately it was Hawkgirl that broke the silence. "Tell me you have a suspect," she demanded. "We need to catch the son of a bitch that did this."

Diana found herself straightening her posture in her seat at those words. "I believe you mentioned someone earlier," she spoke, earning her the attention of the Leaguers at the table. "The Joker, was it?"

Batman gave a sharp nod in response.

"I thought he was in jail," Hawkgirl spoke then. "When the hell did he get out?"

There was a moment of silence before the vigilante answered the Thanagarian. " _About a year and a half ago, the Court of Owls launched a systematic assassination of Gotham's leadership and influential citizens. This was not contained to public servants, but business leaders, political activists, and the vigilantes. The Joker was also targeted in these assassinations."_

"Not to sound unsympathetic, but I hardly see that as a bad thing," Hawkgirl remarked.

Diana was sure she saw the Dark Knight's face become stony through the image before he reached a hand off-screen. There was the sound of typing before the image was replaced with one of a hallway, two men dressed in dark clothes and what looked like owl masks.

" _These were the two assassins sent to kill the Joker. Instead of succeeding, they inadvertently released him from his cell, where he proceeded to a janitor's closet and made a batch of Joker Venom out of household cleaning products. He hasn't been seen or heard from since."_

As if to prove his words, the image changed, splitting right down the middle. On either side of the split showed the assassins with their masks removed, their faces twisted into horrific smiles.

"Okay, so you're telling me this poisonous gas that's wracked up a death toll equal to Agent Orange is made out of Mr. Clean and Pinesol?" Flash asked incredulously.

" _As far as I can tell, it's just certain ingredients in those chemicals,"_ Batman admitted. " _I've run a number of simulations based off of the cleaning products used to determine their formula and came back empty-handed. The Joker is the only one who knows for certain what to include and how much of it to make his Joker Venom. It's obvious now that he can create different variations if he so chooses."_

There was another moment of silence before Superman spoke up, "I seem to recall that you had developed an antidote for this, correct?"

" _That's what J'onn and I are doing right now. It'll take us a few hours—"_

" _Hours?!"_ Flash roared as he shot up out of his chair, knocking the piece of furniture to the floor. "We don't have hours! Central City will be a pile of ashes at the rate it's going. You have to go faster!" He looked away from the hologram, looking almost desperate at the other Leaguers. "You made an antidote for this already, right? Why not use that one?"

" _There are too many differences between the formulas to do that,"_ Batman responded. _"The original killed within minutes of exposure while this new strain induces mania and destructive tendencies._ _For all we know, using the original antidote could have undesired effects, so that's why we're making one for this new strain. We're going as fast as we can—"_

"Not. Good. Enough," Flash growled.

Diana couldn't help but gawk at the red-clad hero. It was a testament to how all of this was affecting him that he would be so short. In all of her time knowing him, the Amazon had never seen him like this.

Unfortunately, Batman was the wrong person to take his frustration out on. In fact, he seemed to loom closer on screen as he said, " _It took me over two days to synthesize an antidote the first time Joker unleashed this. That's the_ only _reason this will take hours and not_ days."

That seemed to take all of the air out of the speedster as his shoulders dropped. "Oh. Sorry."

"So now we know who we're dealing with," Hawkgirl then said, moving the conversation away from Batman's reprimand. "The question now is how do we find him. Any thoughts?"

" _The Joker has a history of taking over hideouts from other criminals. If he's following this pattern, we'll need to do a systematic search for crime families or gangs that suddenly have missing leaders."_

"That's our starting point," Superman declared. "Batman, you and J'onn continue working on an antidote. Meanwhile, the rest of us will split into pairs, one to search Central City and the other Gotham."

That made Hawkgirl raise an eyebrow. "Uhh, I'm pretty sure Joker won't be in Central City. The place is a war zone, so there's no reason for him to stay."

"Not to mention we would be placing ourselves at risk to be poisoned," Diana added. "It would be too dangerous if any of us were exposed."

" _Agreed,"_ Batman interjected. " _As for Gotham, he's not there either. Ever since his escape I've been keeping track of all crime families and gangs and not a one of them have had mysterious disappearances."_

"So where does that leave us?" Superman asked.

Again there was silence. Then, " _Metropolis and Gateway City. Those have the most publicized encounters with League members, so it stands to reason he may be laying low there."_

"Are you saying the Joker is actively targeting us?" Hawkgirl questioned.

" _It's a possibility, but until we can prove otherwise, we'll have to assume so. The Joker's not doing this for the sake of doing it; there's always a plan despite his claims to the contrary. We all need to be vigilant more than ever. As evident by Central City, he'll be targeting cities as well."_

"Then we'll have to be ready for him," Superman spoke. "I still say we stick with pairs. Diana and I will investigate Metropolis while Flash and Hawkgirl will go to Gateway."

Diana couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that. Considering Gateway was the city she protected, it made more sense for her to go there rather than Metropolis. However, her thoughts ended when she heard Superman whisper so lowly only she could hear him. "Flash needs support right now and Hawkgirl is the closest to him save John."

That was a fair point, the Amazon had to admit. "We rendezvous in three hours," she said then, "so we can report our findings."

When she received nods to her suggestion she knew that was the end of the meeting. For now.

* * *

"You were quite short with Flash," J'onn remarked from his station. "He does have a legitimate reason for being upset."

Batman was in agreement with the Martian's words. He had been in Flash's shoes once, so he knew the frustration the young man was feeling. Yet, all of that outrage would do nothing to remedy the situation at hand. If he had to be blunt about it, then so be it.

"You and I both know impatience is not going to solve anything," the vigilante defended, not even pausing in his work. "Flash and the others need to understand the reality of this. They going up against a man they simply can't punch into submission."

"Spoken from experience?" J'onn inquired.

That caused the Dark Knight to pause. If he didn't know any better, he would've thought the Martian Manhunter was being glib with him. In reality it was more like he was prodding for more information than being sarcastic.

So he settled for the more pragmatic reason and responded, "Yes. The Joker is wily and sharp. He's not going to stick his neck out unless he has a good reason for it. If he ever did put himself out in the open, I'd be more concerned."

A whirring sound filled the room, indicating that J'onn had activated the centrifuge. The device was spinning around in a circle, its sides a blur to the human eye. "Your knowledge aside, you could have phrased yourself better when addressing Flash. There was no reason to be short."

"Why? Because he was used by a psychopath to infect an entire city? That gives him a pass to be reckless?" Batman shook his head. "We need to keep a cool head here. This is only the beginning."

"You seem positive there will be more attempts."

The vigilante turned his head and gave a deadpanned look to the Martian, who was looking right back at him. "Considering everything that's happened today, if you were responsible and had an agenda to push, wouldn't you keep going?"

J'onn considered his words silently before he acknowledged them with a sharp nod. "I believe you are right. Where do you suppose he will strike next?"

Now that was a question. Ever since he realized what was going on, Batman had been trying to make sense of it. The Joker had never shown much interest outside of Gotham, simply satisfied with trying to get to the Dark Knight. This attack on Central City was new, something he wasn't pleased about. It meant the clown was changing his little game, his ultimate goal even more unknown than before.

At least he knew now why the Joker had changed his formula. As he had reported to the rest of the League, he had wanted a poison that could be spread primarily by Flash. Because of the lower concentration of the new formula, that either meant Joker had to sacrifice the potency of the Joker Venom, or he purposefully didn't want to poison Flash. Was it because he thought the red-clad man would bring the toxin to the Justice League headquarters and infect the others? That was definitely in line with the madman's previous plans.

Yet, Batman wasn't sure if that was truly the case this time. What if the point of this attack was to get at Flash? To shake his confidence for something further down the road? Now that, that was definitely in line with Joker's thought process. If Flash was more concerned by what his running could do to the people around him, he would slow down a step, a vital step that would give the Joker an upper hand at the most inopportune moment.

Batman narrowed his eyes. They were playing chess with someone who had been making moves without their knowing. If anything, Central City was just to inform them they were playing.

Fine then, consider them informed.

* * *

Superman stared at the building below them, the irises of his eyes taking on a paler hue, indicating he was using his x-ray vision. Patiently, Diana hovered nearby, waiting for the Kryptonian's verdict.

"Not here either," the man eventually said, his eyes returning to their natural blue. That made the fourth potential hideout in Metropolis the two had check and found their target absent.

This was how they had been searching Metropolis ever since they arrived, determined not to give away their presence to their prey until the last possible moment. Superman would use his x-ray vision to scan known hideouts for criminal activity—the one below them belonging to a mob boss named Carlini. Two other places had been gang-related, the one before this stop belonging to a crooked mechanic as Clark described him.

Considering the grumblings she had heard from Superman and John over the years about mechanics, Diana wasn't sure if that search was necessary.

Unfortunately, the Amazon wasn't sure if this was the correct course for them. While Superman had the knowledge of the city's inner workings, they could check each and every criminal hideout and still not find the man they were searching for, even if he was here.

"Do you suppose Flash and Hawkgirl have found anything?" she asked, an attempt to slowly air her concerns.

"We would have heard from them if they had," the Kryptonian responded before he began to fly towards the seaside of the city. Diana followed him at the same pace.

"Do you think the Joker is even in Metropolis or Gateway? There are plenty of other cities for him to hide in if he wished to go undetected."

Superman responded with a shrug. "That's very possible, but that would mean having to search every single city in the country and we don't have those resources." His tone was distracted, not that that was a surprise. He was currently using his enhanced hearing to locate the Joker's voice among the constant chatter of the city. "It would help if we knew what the Joker was planning for, but until he sticks his head out, we won't know a thing."

And that was the most frustrating part of this entire excursion. They were waiting on the whim of an infamous madman. The only person that had a clue as to what he was thinking was currently locked in a laboratory trying to ferret out the secrets of a somewhat new toxin. It also didn't help that her knowledge of their target was quite lacking.

During the early days of the League, every member made sure to share their knowledge of the rogues they faced. Superman and Flash seemed to have the longer lists among them, John's enemies having more to do with the Green Lantern Corps than anything. Diana, Hawkgirl, and J'onn had very few save what Man's World referred to as mythical Greek monsters.

Batman hadn't been as forthcoming with his battles upon his admission. It was as if he didn't revel in the battles he had been through, not that Diana saw that as a bad thing. He did not partake in the story-telling the others did about their missions and pasts, instead seeming to keep them all at an arm's distance. The most open the Amazon had seen him was during their spars, where he was more willing to demonstrate his repertoire of martial art techniques.

Perhaps they should have been more insistent on learning of the Dark Knight's foes.

"Perhaps we should split up," she suggested as they reached the wharf. Superman didn't immediately respond as he was looking down at what appeared to be a warehouse, his eyes once more paling as he activated his x-ray vision. This time, however, she noticed the Man of Steel frown.

"Do you see something?" she prodded.

That was when Superman's frown became a more severe scowl. "Looks like there's a weapon's deal going on. I would have thought these guys would've learned after the Invasion, but apparently not."

"Then it would be best if we put a stop them."

Superman looked up at her, his x-ray vision deactivating as he did so. The corner of his mouth twitched up as he said, "I suppose we could use a break."

Simultaneously, the two heroes dropped from the sky, Superman leading the way as he flew headfirst, Diana choosing to lower herself feet first at a slower pace, her arms raised over her head. Like a battering ram, Superman rammed into the roof of the warehouse, creating a hole as he burst through it, sending chunks of debris falling to the floor below.

Soon after, Diana descended through the hole, just in time to see Superman standing a short distance away from a group of gun runners. "—crap, it's Superman!" one of them was just finished shouting.

And that was when they all pulled out futuristic-looking handguns and began firing yellow beams.

If there was one thing that annoyed Diana about the Invasion, it was the sudden rise of plasma gun technology. Metropolis and Gateway had been flooded with the weapons—though oddly enough Gotham hadn't been graced with their presence. As John once explained to her, it was the escalation effect. Criminals needed more powerful weapons to handle heroes like Superman whereas the ones in Gotham only needed armor-piercing rounds in response to the GCPD SWAT team and Batman. Everything was relative in that regard.

That still didn't stop the yellow beams from bouncing off of Superman's broad chest, the Kryptonian no worse for wear. Choosing to land behind the group of gunmen, Diana touched down facing the backs of two of the men. Reaching out, she grabbed them by a shoulder each, startling them into stopping their shooting as they jerk their heads around to look at her.

Using her strength, she cleanly lifted them right off the floor, causing both men to cry out in surprise. With a flick of her wrist and a jerk of her arms higher up, she sent both gunmen flying over her shoulders screaming as they flew through the air. Each one ended up crashing into stacks of crates, which effectively knocked them out of the fight.

Because of this, the other gunmen took notice of her, one of which even pointed his weapon at her. Instantly, Diana shot an arm up, just in time to bounce away a yellow energy beam. Over and over, the man fired his laser gun, only for the Amazon's quicker reflexes to block the blasts with her bracers.

It was then that the sound of screeching tires caught her attention. Out of the corner of her eye, a jeep slid across the floor until its back was facing in her direction, its front pointed to a large doorway. The revving of the engine was loud as the jeep sped towards the exit.

Returning her attention to the gunman in front of her, Diana suddenly took a step back and to a side, allowing her to twist her body at an angle. Because of this, she was able to get her arm into a position where she deflected the next yellow beam in a specific direction.

And as she planned, the beam made contact with the right back tire of the jeep, blowing it out and causing the vehicle to veer side to side uncontrollably. The gunman firing at her paused as he heard the commotion. All the while, Diana watched as the jeep swerved out of its path towards the exit and instead rammed at full speed into the wall next to the opening. Two men in the vehicle went flying out of their seats, one hitting the wall with his entire body while the other had the misfortune of clipping the side of the door frame, bouncing off of it like a rag doll as he sailed through the doorway.

With this proving to be a distraction for the gunman, Diana quickly reached for her lasso and pulled it away from her hip. Lashing out with it, she sent the rope streaking through the air where it made contact with her foe's extended arm, wrapping around it instantly. Pulling as hard as she could on her lasso, she caused the man to fly off the ground, hurling towards her as he screamed. With her other hand, she balled it into a fist and threw it forward, slamming it into the man's face and causing his upper body to come to a complete stop. This didn't stop his lower body from moving, however, and the gunman began flipping feet-over-head several times before he landed on the ground in a heap.

Turning her sights back to the other men, she found that Superman had dealt with them already, each man sprawled out on the ground in various states of consciousness. "Looks like we finished up pretty quickly," he remarked, a smile on his face.

"It appears so." Looking around, Diana could see no other threats and slowly began to relax. "Now that we're done blowing off some steam, where to now?"

"Well, since we're here, there's a few more warehouses that we should probably check out. I'll go do that if you make sure our friends here don't get the idea to leave without a police escort."

The Amazon nodded. "I suppose I can arrange for that."

Without another word, Superman began to raise up into the air before he stopped, a thought occurring to him. "Our three hours is almost up. Once you're finished here, head back to Happy Harbor. I'll meet you and the others there after I do a sweep."

Diana raised an eyebrow at that. "Are you sure? Weren't we supposed to stay in teams?"

"It'll only be a few minutes. Unless I find the Joker, there's no reason for us to find each other."

That sounded like good reasoning and the dark-haired woman couldn't see any fault with it. "Very well. See you at headquarters."

* * *

The Joker Venom dust was inspired by an event during the _Death of the Family_ story line. There's a part where Kid Flash is investigating a former Joker hideout and inadvertently Jokerizes a building full of the homeless. I always did like the idea of the Joker using a hero's power against them, even anticipating how they'll act and react. Granted it was against teenagers, it still highlighted how thorough the Joker was when going on the offensive with meta-humans. So my thinking goes, if he could do that to the Teen Titans, he could certainly do it for the Justice League; he just needed to make adjustments to his plan is all.


	5. Ravishing In Purple

Warehouse after warehouse, Superman couldn't find a trace of the Joker. There wasn't so much as a giggle or exploding whoopee cushion to be found. Gliding through the night sky, he searched with his x-ray vision, viewing through concrete and stone inside of crate-filled buildings.

His ears could pick up the sound of sirens nearby, no doubt the MPD arriving to pick up the gunrunners he and Diana had apprehended. The Amazon had departed a few minutes before, heading back to Happy Harbor as planned. As for him, he had two to three more warehouses to investigate before he was finished.

Arriving at the next warehouse, he focused his eyes, the walls soon fading away as he began to see its insides. Much like the other buildings in the area, he could see the stacks of wooden crates and iron barrels. Pausing there, he began to sweep the building for any signs of life, finding none aside from the occasional rat and cockroach.

Once he was positive there was nothing worthy of note, Superman allowed his x-ray vision to stop, his vision returning to normal a moment later. Moving on, he angled towards another building.

In all honesty, the Kryptonian had the same doubts that Diana had been expressing. How did they even know the Joker would be in the two cities they were checking? There were too many places for the man to hide, especially if you ruled out his favorite places in Gotham. Superman was more of the mind that they should be checking there. Never mind that Batman had been keeping a close eye on the city's criminal underworld, even he could miss things from time to time.

Quickly, Superman checked out the last couple of warehouses, finding what he had been expecting all along. There was only storage containers and small pockets of pests scurrying about, no reason to be alarmed. With a sigh, he stopped in the air, letting a gentle breeze caress his body and cause his cape to ruffle.

It seemed it was time to return to—

" _...oh, Suuuuuperman…"_

The Man of Steel paused. It wasn't uncommon for him to hear his name spoken, especially in a city like Metropolis. From the good people that praised him to the criminals that cursed his existence, his name was spoken quite frequently. Yet, never had he heard it used in such a sickening sweet call.

" _Suuuuuuperman…"_

It was distant, but the Kryptonian was focusing more and more on the voice. It wasn't one he was familiar with, but a sick feeling began welling up inside his stomach.

" _Can you heeear me? I hope you can. I have something you'd like to knoooooow. Or better yet, someone you know too weeeeell._ "

Superman turned his head to the west. That was where the voice was coming from, he was sure of it.

" _Ya see, I was walking by myself, minding my own business, when this lady ran into me. Now, I was sure I had seen her from somewhere when it hit me: this is Lois Lane!"_

Superman froze, the very blood in his veins freezing as his stomach dropped.

" _And since I was such a fan of hers, I just had to sweep her off her feet. Now I know you two have this thing going on, so if I were you, I would listen_ very _carefully. Come alone. If you call the police, Lois dies. If you call your buddies at the Justice Little League, Lois dies. If you do_ anything _aside from coming here, well, I think you get the gist._

" _So then, come to the Lexcorp weapons plant in the northwest part of the city. I know you know where that is. I can see where that wonderful heat vision of yours drew lines into the wall. Hope to see you soon!"_

The Man of Steel knew exactly where the voice—the one he knew to be the Joker's—was coming from. He had fought another of Luthor's creations in that building not too long ago.

A part of him wanted to call this into the League. There was no way the Joker would know beforehand if he did. Yet, if even one of the others was caught on a security camera and Joker saw it, he would make good on his threat—and he had no doubt this psychopath would make good on his threat if pushed.

Superman shook his head. This was just a criminally insane man with a gun. While dangerous, he stood no chance against a man with super strength, speed, and invulnerability. He could handle the madman.

Extending his arms out in front of him, Superman took off, flying towards the Lexcorp building.

* * *

The return journey to headquarters was uneventful. In fact, Diana made the trip in record time, landing at the entrance to the complex before the top of the hour. Entering her access code into the keypad next to the door, she was granted entry as the door swung open. Passing through the threshold, she heard the door close behind her as she walked down the corridor before her.

It had been some time since she had actually entered the Justice League headquarters through the front entrance. Most times she was being transported via the teleportation system. It was a faster, more efficient mode of transportation, so actually using the front door was a strange experience.

Though it was quickly approaching the time for the rest of the League to gather in the meeting room to discuss their progress, Diana found herself heading towards the laboratory J'onn and Batman were holed up in. She was rather curious to see what progress was being made on their end.

It took several minutes, but eventually the Amazon stood in front of the door. Part of her wanted to enter the room straight away, yet another part was holding her back. There was no telling if a cure had been developed since she and the others had departed and if she stormed in unannounced, she could interrupt a very delicate procedure.

Deciding to act on the safe side, she raised a hand to her ear and activated her comm link. "Wonder Woman to Batman, is it safe to enter the lab?"

There was a moment of silence before she heard the vigilante reply, " _You can enter."_

A smile appearing on her face, Diana opened the door and entered the lab. Many things had changed since the meeting earlier. What had once looked like an organized laboratory through the hologram was less so now. Bottles of chemicals, beakers and vials were scattered on multiple desks. Various other equipment was mingled in the mess, none of which, she was quick to note, were active.

Towards one end of the room stood Batman and J'onn, a glass beaker the size of a kitchen pot sitting on a desk next to them. A Bunsen burner was lit, heating up the contents of an orange fluid within the beaker, bubbles continuously bursting at the surface.

Eyes lighting up, Diana asked, "I take it you've found an antidote?"

"We believe so," J'onn answered her, his stoic voice doing nothing to dampen her spirits. "It still needs some time to cook before it is ready."

"That's wonderful news!" she praised them before her eyes returned to the beaker. Though it was truly great they had created an antidote, the Amazon couldn't help but wonder why there was only one vat being made. Considering it was believed the entirety of Central City was infected by the Joker Venom, wouldn't more of the antidote be beneficial? "Correct me if I'm wrong, but have you made enough?"

""If our calculations are correct, it may be," the Martian replied.

"Are you sure? Is that enough for over a million people?"

"You make it sound like we haven't made more," Batman retorted.

It took a moment for that comment to register, but when it did it caused the Amazon's smile to grow enormously. She should have known better than to doubt these two men.

"If we were to give the correct dosage to each and every person, then no, it wouldn't even with all that we've managed to make," the vigilante continued. His words, however, only served to make the dark-haired woman frown. "However, that's not what we're going to do."

Diana looked from Batman to J'onn and back. Obviously she was missing something here. "Then how do you intend on administering it?"

"In aerosol form," J'onn told her. "Because of the size of the outbreak—and as you mentioned the sheer number poisoned—we felt it would be more beneficial, if not more efficient, if we were to render the antidote in aerosol form over the city. Though it will act slower and will be less concentrated, the number of people exposed to it will be much greater."

That caused the dark-haired woman to light up once more. "You've thought of everything, haven't you?"

The corner of Batman's mouth twitched up in response. "We'll see."

"It should be about time for the others to arrive," J'onn spoke then. "I will continue to monitor the antidote if you will explain our plan."

The Dark Knight gave a sharp nod in agreement before he began walking towards the exit. Giving the Martian a smile, Diana followed Batman out of the room, entering the hall with him as they began heading towards the meeting room. "Flash will be pleased," she remarked.

All she received was a grunt in response. It didn't deter the Amazon in the least since she was used to such minimalistic retorts from the man. "So how do you plan on exposing Central City to your cure?" she asked.

"Patience, Princess," Batman said in reply. "I'd rather say this once and not multiple times."

"If you please." There was a pause before she continued, "Superman and I did not find a trace of the Joker in Metropolis, just so you know. Are you sure he'd be hiding in the city?"

"In all honesty, no," he answered truthfully, much to Diana's astonishment. "Without knowing the Joker's goal, it's hard to say where and how he's keeping low. All we can go on is previous experience and that tells me he's staying close to where he'll strike next. He likes to watch the chaos he creates, so there was no doubt in my mind he would've lingered in Central City following the outbreak there."

That caused the Amazon to frown. "But wouldn't that have put him at risk for falling victim to his own poison?"

"The Joker's immune to his toxins. I'm not sure how that's the case—probably constant exposure has built up a tolerance. Regardless, he could fill an entire room with his Joker Venom and not be the least bit affected."

"Oh." That was a useful piece of information. If and when the time came she cornered the man and he held a vial of his poison, she would need to expect that he would use it without a second thought.

It was about then they reached the meeting room. Pushing the doors open, they were greeted to the sight of empty chairs and a clean, polished table. "No one's here," Batman stated.

"It would seem so," Diana agreed.

"Where's Superman? He should be here."

"There was a weapons deal going down at the Metropolis Docks. Superman wished to make sure there weren't others going on before we left, so I went on ahead."

Batman turned his head to regard the dark-haired woman. "That wasn't part of the plan, Wonder Woman. It was agreed you would stay with your partner."

Diana wasn't offended by the statement. Had the vigilante said this during his admission into the League, she would have bristled at his words. However, she had come to know he was extremely task-oriented. If something didn't go to plan, his mind was working as fast as Hermes to determine what went wrong and how to remedy it if it was necessary. "He'll be here soon, if he isn't here already," she said. "We were only a few minutes apart in leaving."

Batman grunted, but said no more. It wasn't like he had a choice either as Flash suddenly burst into the room, a red blue zooming towards his chair, where he finally took form sitting in it. Hawkgirl followed him through the doorway at a much more sedate pace.

"Tell me you've got something," Flash demanded, his body trembling in his seat.

Glancing to the Dark Knight and predicting exactly what he was going to say—that he wanted to wait for Superman—Diana grinned with mirth before she replied to the speedster, "An antidote has been made. We'll be discussing logistics in a moment."

Flash cheered loudly even as Batman tilted his head to give the Amazon a look. Diana merely smiled at him in response.

"What are we waiting for then?" the red-clad man spoke then, even as Hawkgirl took her seat next to him. "Let's get this ball rolling!"

"Superman isn't here," the Thanagarian remarked, turning in her seat to look at the two standing Leaguers. "I suppose we're waiting on him?"

"That's right," Batman acknowledged.

That caused Flash to groan. "We don't have time to be waiting on the Boy Scout to show up. We need to stop the riots in Central now, not in an hour. We've got a ticking clock, people!"

Batman didn't look as if he would be budging on his decision, his face a mask of stone. Diana, however, understood where Flash's impatience was coming from. If Themiscyra had been attacked like his city, she would've been just as frantic. That was why she suggested, "I can brief Superman about our plan and anything else he'll miss."

The Dark Knight looked to her, seemingly to study the merit of her suggestion. It seemed he came in favor of it as he started to say, "We've made enough of the antidote to release it as an aerosol over Central City. We'll be unleashing it as a gas above the city so that it can cover the entire metropolitan area. To do this, we'll need to release it at key points, adjusting for wind of course."

"Sounds like we'll be needing flyers," Flash remarked. "That makes me useless."

"I'll be leading the first wave," Batman continued, ignoring the red-clad man's comment. "I have an aerosol dispenser built into my plane. I'll be doing an initial pass over the city. J'onn and I estimate that I should be able to get fifty percent of the city, again depending on wind conditions. If we're lucky, it can go up to as high as sixty. From there, the rest of the League will be covering the areas I miss with smaller canisters. The higher we use them, the more surface area we'll cover, but again, it leaves it at the mercy of—"

"We get it, we get it," Flash interrupted. "How soon can we get this done?"

"Within the hour. The last batch should be finishing the bonding process by now and J'onn will be filling the canisters."

That caused Diana to perk her head up. "You've been busy since we left."

"Of course," the vigilante replied. "In fact, I had just returned from preparing my plane when you arrived."

"And here I thought it would take you hours to create an antidote."

"It did."

"As much as I enjoy you two flirting with each other, it looks like we need to be getting ready," Hawkgirl interjected then. "We don't have time to be waiting for Superman to arrive. Someone needs to call him to see where he is and if necessary direct him to Central City instead of coming here."

"Good idea," Diana said before she raised a hand to her comm link. "Superman, come in. This is Wonder Woman, over."

There was a moment of silence, one that ended up stretching out longer than she had anticipated. "Superman? Can you read me?" she tried again.

By now Batman was fully facing her. "Something's wrong," he stated. His face hardened. "His last location was in Metropolis, correct?"

Diana nodded. "That's correct."

"Then we're going to need to send a team in. Take Flash with you to Metropolis and find Superman. J'onn, Hawkgirl, and I will administer the antidote at Central City. Neither of you leave the other's sight, okay?"

"Aren't you overreacting here?" Hawkgirl asked as she stood up from her chair. "I mean, this is Superman we're talking about."

"And that's exactly what I'm afraid of."

Leaving his words to hang in front of the other Leaguers, Batman strode towards the exit. "Flash, Wonder Woman, get to Metropolis as fast as you can. I don't care how you do it, but find Superman. Hawkgirl, we're going to the lab to meet with J'onn."

And with that, he disappeared through the doorway. There was a silence between the three heroes before Flash remarked, "Well, that was pretty dramatic."

"I still think he's overreacting," Hawkgirl said, slowly making her way to the meeting room doors. "I'll be expecting to see you two in Central City shortly."

"I don't know," Flash responded, causing the winged woman to halt in her tracks. "This isn't the first time this Joker guy has put a city on lock down. You weren't there when he tried to blow Gotham up a second time, but had we not been there, there's no telling if Gotham would still be here. I think we need to trust Bats on this one."

"He does have more experience with this man," Diana added her agreement.

"We're talking about some psychopath that likes to blow things up," Hawkgirl retorted. "He can use all the explosives he wants, it's not going to do anything to Superman. If there's one person we can trust to be on their own, it's him."

* * *

Superman hovered in the air, staring down at the Lexcorp building the Joker had told him to come to. Unlike the other buildings that bore Lex Luthor's logo on it, this one was way short of the polished standard the business mogul demanded.

The Kryptonian may have had a hand in that.

A portion of the northwest corner was demolished, a pile of rubble that had yet to be cleaned up. Cracks marred the walls of the building, though they didn't touch the giant L that extended from one of the walls. There were even a few holes scattered about. All of this was the result of a ferocious battle the Kryptonian had faced mere weeks ago. It hadn't been the most difficult fight, but it had last longer than the Man of Steel had expected.

None of this interested Superman at the moment. What did was a dim glow radiating out of one of the windows in what was the storage wing of the facility. Unlike the rest of the building, there were no outward signs of damage. The inside was a different matter.

And now, the dark-haired man was about to cause a little more damage.

Flying towards the roof, Superman extended his legs out beneath him, pressing them together as he descended. The moment they hit the roof, it gave way, the concrete breaking into pieces. The sight of chemical tanks forming lines to either side of him appeared, replacing the nearby suburb.

Keeping up with the falling debris, it and him reached the ground roughly at the same time, this sound of his boots touching down being enveloped by the clattering of rock. Standing up to his full height, he was quick to note the dim lighting from the overhanging lights. Because of the light, he had a harder time noticing the scars of his previous battle here.

Before him, one of the lights poured down, creating a large circle in front of him. At the opposite side was a man, his back facing the Kryptonian. From what the light revealed, he wore purple suit pants and a jacket. Anything else was hidden in the dark.

That was until the man turn around, his hands becoming fists as they pressed into his hips. A pale face with grinning red lips revealed itself. "More powerful than a locomotive," he announced, the sound of his voice echoing throughout the room before he added, "and about as subtle."

So this was the Joker.

The last time Superman had seen him, he had been unconscious, so he hadn't looked like much. Seeing him holding himself with such confidence, the Man of Steel had to say he wasn't impressed. As far as he could tell, there were no weapons he had that could affect him; that wasn't to say there weren't weapons on the man because he had all sorts of things on him. Through X-ray Vision, the Kryptonian could see a bottle of some sort of fluid behind the flower on his lapel, a small circular device in his palm, along with a few guns and knives hidden on his person. None of those weapons would hurt him.

"You wanted my attention, Joker," Superman called back, "well, you got it. Where's Lois?"

A confused expression appeared on the green-haired man's face. "Lois? Whomever do you mean, Fly-boy? I don't know any Lois."

Superman began to march over to the man, entering into the light as he closed the distance between them. "The woman you kidnapped. Give her to me."

Again, the Joker feigned confusion. "Kidnapped? Why I haven't kidnapped anyone—" Suddenly his face lit up with realization. "OH! _That_ Lois! Silly me, I can't believe I forgot! Well, just between you and me, I...only saw her at a distance. There wasn't any time to get an autograph or anything, but I'm—"

The Man of Steel was a blur of blue and red, his super speed closing the remaining distance between them in the blink of an eye. Grabbing a fistful of the clown's shirt and picking him up off the ground, he demanded heatedly, "Tell me where she is, _now._ "

"Okay, okay!" the pale man exclaimed, raising both of his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Can't you take a joke?"

Superman wasn't in the mood for jokes. In fact he was rather annoyed by the man's antics. That was the only excuse he had for forgetting the fact the Joker had something in his hand. The Joker was more than happy to remind him when he slapped his hand down on the Kryptonian's shoulder.

Intense pain seared into Superman's body at the moment of contact. Green bolts of electricity raced all over him as he screamed, his hand spasming so hard that he lost his grip on the Joker's shirt, dropping to kneel on one knee as the pale man landed on his feet.

And then the pain stopped the moment the clown pulled his hand away, Superman gasping for breath. Vaguely he was aware of Joker casually walking around him, disappearing from sight towards his back. "Oh, do I _love_ my joy buzzer!" he declared manically. "There's just so many uses for it!"

That was when Superman felt Joker's hand slap him right on the back and he was overwhelmed by the electric shock again. Screaming, he collapsed to the floor, inadvertently moving away from the intense pain.

That shock...that was no normal shock. The dark-haired man knew when he was being hit by electricity and this was too different. There was something else going on.

"You know, I had always heard that ol' Lexy had a thing for you," the Joker remarked. "I don't mean a man-crush by any means; you would know better than I, of course." A pause. "There isn't anything going on, right? Not that I would judge, or anything."

Slowly, the Kryptonian began turning his head to a side, catching sight of the clown out of the corner of his eye. Feeling heat radiating from his eyes as he began to call upon his heat vision, a hand suddenly slapped down over his face, a rapid flashing of green and white exploding in his sights as pain screamed through his head.

And then it stopped. "Now, now, none of that," the Joker reprimanded. "I haven't finished my monologue after all. Now where was I? Oh, yes! Did you know there's an entire basement level with all sorts of goodies Lexy made? In fact, they all had your name on it too!"

That was when Joker knelt down, his lips a tight smile as he looked down on the fallen Kryptonian. Superman, in contrast, was lying on his side, unable to so much as twitch a finger. "So many toys made from that pretty green rock that I hear can kill you. Why, I almost wanted to take a few for my own collection, but then I thought, why stop there? A gun can only be so much fun; but a joy buzzer with kryptonite radiation? Why, I just had to do it! I think you can appreciate its effects."

So that's what it was. The aftereffects pained him much more than normal electricity. Unfortunately, that left him completely vulnerable and at the mercy of this lunatic.

The Joker then cocked his head to a side. "But...to be honest, that's as far as I would go. I mean, I really don't see what Lexy sees to want you dead. If you were this easy, either he's completely incompetent or just...no, actually incompetent works just fine here. I can't really think of another option to be frank."

The Joker then shocked Superman again, pressing his hand hard against his shoulder. He couldn't help but scream wildly until it was over. "Now that was just for the road. Wouldn't want you spoiling the surprise and all."

Standing up, the clown walked over somewhere. Superman couldn't bear to watch as every nerve ending in his body was screaming.

"Now, I know you hero-types are always more worried about those frail meat sacks you call people, so as a courtesy, to soothe that hard head of yours, I'll let you in on a secret: I may have been fibbing about that lovely ex of yours. You're usual damsel-in-distress ain't here, Buckaroo."

The Kryptonian only panted in response, trying to regain his breath. He heard the clown's words, let them soak in, and he couldn't help but berate himself for falling for them. Of course the psychopath wouldn't keep his hostage nearby. Lois had to be somewhere else in case Superman had successfully defeated the Joker.

Or maybe she hadn't been kidnapped at all.

That was when a loud _THUMP!_ was made just above his head. Warily, Superman tilted his head up, seeing a chest a short distance away. Kneeling behind it, a wicked smile appeared on Joker's face. Placing a hand on either side of the chest, he slowly opened it, a menacing purple glow radiating out of it.

"Now, while I am fond of green, sometimes you need a splash of color to break up the monotony. Besides, I think you'd look _ravishing_ in purple."


	6. Saving Central City

Metropolis had a certain radiance to it. When compared to its sister cities, it stood as a shining example of the heights mankind could achieve, creating a future of hope and happiness. It was the envy of the eastern seaboard with its technological advancements, architectural designs, and a booming economy, or so the brochures claimed. Those pamphlets had been Diana's first introduction and piece of research into the city when she had entered Man's World.

For all its brilliance though, the Amazon preferred her own protectorate. Gateway was a more humble city to Metropolis, yet no less magnificent. As much as she loved her city, it was not at the forefront of advancement that Metropolis was.

Though her visits had been occasional, it was serving to be a hindrance in her and Flash's search for Superman. The moment the two Leaguers had arrived, they had set their plan into motion, Flash racing through the streets at super speeds to either attract or discover Superman's location. Meanwhile, Diana took to the skies, searching for the familiar colors of red and blue.

Alas, an hour had passed without anything to show for. Opting to meet on a building with a large globe jutting upward from its roof, Diana and Flash felt a change of plan was needed.

"I don't know what to say," the speedster said, puzzlement laced in his voice. "I did everything I could to make Supes poke his head out just to make sure there wasn't any trouble going on and I didn't get so much as a peep."

"I had the same result as well," Diana replied, her hands resting on her hips. A breeze blew by, causing her dark hair to wave in the wind. "I believe a change in tactics would be appropriate."

"Sounds good to me." There was a moment's pause before Flash added, "How about we check the more crime-ridden areas? Like the harbor, or the industrial sector? The factories and power plant type places. I bet anything that if Big Blue was too distracted to come out, it's because he's handling some crime, or something."

The Amazon could find no fault with that logic. "How familiar are you with where the factories are in his city?"

"Not very, but I'm a fast learner. You can take the harbor while I scout out everything else."

Flash didn't even wait for her agreement before he became a red blur, racing off towards the edge of the roof before disappearing over its edge. Staring after the red-clad man's exit, Diana soon lifted up into the air before she began flying towards the east. Because it was night time, the ocean in the distance appeared black despite the lights of Metropolis shining onto its surface.

In no time, Diana was soon making her way between all of the warehouses, keeping her eyes open for any shady activity. If there was a drug shipment, or an arms deal occurring—much like what had occurred during her original foray into the city with Superman—the Man of Steel would no doubt be close by. Raising a hand up, the Amazon activated her comm link, making sure to keep her voice calm and collect as she hailed, "Superman, this is Diana, please respond."

This had been something she had been doing ever since she had arrived in the city. Like her previous attempts too, she received no answer. Diana wasn't one to become discouraged by the lack of success, but considering what was going on, she was beginning to feel an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. Something wasn't right about this.

"Superman, do you copy?" she asked again as she drifted between two more buildings. A glance to either one had shown there were no lights to signify the presence of people. Her hearing—though not at the same sensitivity as Superman's, she could still hear much better than the average person—did not pick up the drone of heavy machinery at work, no the chatter of bored shipping workers. In fact, the entire harbor was closed down.

She felt that this was out of the ordinary.

"Flash, have you found anything?" she then called out to her partner. Unlike her unanswered calls to Superman, Flash was quick to respond.

" _Nothing on my end. I did see that one factory Supes had that fight in last week, but nothing seems out of place with it. How about you?"_

"Is it normal for a harbor to have no activity occurring?"

" _Depends if there's any scheduled arrivals. Try and find the master planner for the place. It'll tell you what's going on."_

That wasn't a bad idea. After informing Flash that's what she would do, Diana raised higher into the air, looking for anything that looked like the headquarters for the harbor. That turned out to be quite easy to find. Much like a control tower at an airport, there was one such building towards the south side of the harbor. Though there were a lack of satellite dishes, the height of the tower in comparison to the warehouses made it stand out.

Heading towards the tower, Diana noticed a fire escape on one side of the building. Deciding this was her best point of entry, she landed on top of the fire escape and saw a door nearby. Grabbing the handle, she gave a quick jerk and forced it open, pieces of what used to be a deadbolt clattering on the floor and even falling between the metal bars of the fire escape.

Entering the tower, Diana had to pause as her eyes adjusted to the dark room. It took a moment, but soon she could make out the computer terminals, desk stations, and even a large whiteboard hanging from the wall. It was the whiteboard that drew her interest, the Amazon strolling towards it.

A grid made of black tape was on the board, forming small rectangles. In each of the rectangular boxes were letters and numbers. From what she could make of it, there were the names of ships to the left side of the grid, followed by either the word Arrival or Departure. Numbers indicating times were next, which were followed by random codes of letters and numbers she could not identify. Looking through the column with the times, she soon found out there were no scheduled ships arriving or leaving the harbor for the night. It seemed this was just a dead end.

"False alarm, Flash," she then spoke into her comm link. "The harbor is closed for the night."

There was a moment before Flash responded. " _I'm not finding anything on my end either. We should have found Superman by now."_

"Agreed." Diana sighed. There was a sinking feeling in her stomach, which told her that something was most certainly wrong. Unless Superman appeared before them or in Happy Harbor, they were going to have assume he was missing-in-action, or worse.

" _I don't like this, Diana,"_ Flash said then.

"Neither do I, Flash," she replied. "Neither do I."

* * *

" _Estimated time to destination: 3 minutes,"_ the on-board GPS system droned out.

Hands gripping the cockpits joystick, Batman stared out the windshield, spotting a glow in the distance, one that was growing bigger with every passing second. Normally the lights of streetlamps and buildings would be casting out light pollution, blocking out the stars in the night sky for anyone within view of it. Now though, the light of the city was replaced with fire and smoke. Considering how much time had gone by since the initial outbreak, it was nothing short of miraculous that the city hadn't collapsed onto itself.

"Hawkgirl, J'onn, are you in position?" the vigilante asked over his comm link.

There was a moment before Hawkgirl responded, " _We are, Batman. Canisters are active and air re-breathers are operational. We're waiting for the go."_

Excellent. "Remember the plan. I'll make a sweep of the city and you two cover any areas I miss."

" _Roger that."_

One hand leaving the joystick, Batman began pressing a few buttons, followed by flicking several switches. This activated the gas disbursement system on board his plane, switching the controls from the defensive system to the one he desired. Buttons and triggers that fired missiles and starbursts were now primed to release the antitoxin onboard his aircraft.

Eyes darting to the dashboard, Batman looked at one of the gauges, checking for the presence of wind. According to the gauge, there was a four to five mile per hour wind from the northeast, something he would need to take into consideration.

It was about then he reached the Central City city limits. Angling his plane towards the north side of the city, the Dark Knight couldn't help but glance out his side window, eyeing the damage below. He couldn't repress the distaste he felt as he saw Jokerized people were still destroying whatever they laid their hands on. Intellectually he knew it wasn't their fault, but he couldn't help chide the people inside his head. Taking the moral high ground was an instinctual urge for those on the outside looking in.

"Batman to all points, I'm detecting a wind current from the northeast," he reported to the other League members. "Make adjustments as needed. I'll be beginning my first run shortly."

Finishing his report, the vigilante pressed a button to cut off his communication line. There was no point in hearing either of the aliens confirming his words. Closing in on the northeast corner of the city, Batman made sure to put some distance between them, making a u-turn before flying straight at Central City.

His index finger rested on the trigger then. Taking in consideration the wind currents and the speed of his plane, he needed to begin dropping the antitoxin early so that the wind would blow the gas into the city. The issue became of timing: if he went too early, some of the antitoxin would end up wasted; if he waited too long, that was a section of the city he would miss and he did not want to miss an inch. As the city grew bigger as he drew near it, he began a mental countdown.

He depressed the trigger.

He was about a hundred feet outside the first row of buildings when an orange-colored gas began trailing his plane. In the blink of an eye, he was over the city, crossing over it as the skyscrapers blurred beneath him.

As soon as he reached the other side of the city, Batman took a right turn, his plane leaning to a side as his view shifted from a dark horizon to the smoking buildings and streets. Eyeing a gauge to his left, he made note of how much antitoxin he still had on board, estimating he had a few more passes he could make. Straightening out the plane, he began crossing over Central City again, only this time he saw a thin orange cloud floating down between buildings, conforming to the grid-like structure of the streets.

Accelerating, Batman raced towards the other side of the city again, making a wider turn to the right and repeating his action.

* * *

High above the city, Shayera watched as the Batwing crisscrossed Central City. Patiently she waited, her sharp eyes spotting areas that were being missed by each pass the Dark Knight made. Occasionally those spots would be covered in the orange gas Batman dropped on the city and she would put her focus on other areas.

Activating her comm link, the Thanagarian spoke, "How much more of the antidote do you think Batman has left?"

There was a brief moment before J'onn answered, " _I believe he still has a few more passes before he runs empty."_

The winged woman nodded, even though it was a pointless gesture. Some time before Batman began spraying Central City, he had cut off his comm link, so she knew he wasn't listening. She was guessing he wanted to focus completely on the task at hand, something she couldn't fault him for.

However, just because he wasn't in a talking mood didn't mean she wasn't. Because of the gas flooding the streets, Shayera wasn't able to see what it was doing to the people below. They could be cured, or their conditions exacerbated for all she knew. "Can you tell if this is working?" she asked then.

J'onn took longer to respond this time, something she was able to keep in perspective. The Martian was trying to be thorough in his mental search, so there was no need to be nervous if he was taking his time. No news meant things weren't getting worse, or so she told herself.

Then, " _It appears to be working. The mania I'm sensing is beginning to recede and more rational thought is emerging."_

 _Flash is going to be so happy,_ she thought, the corner of her mouth twitching up into a smirk. It looked like J'onn and Batman had made the right antidote after all.

Suddenly, Batman's voice came over the comm link. " _I have about two more passes I can make,"_ he reported. " _Once I leave the city, it's up to you two to cover what I missed."_

Shayera focused her attention on the city below. As far as she could tell, Batman had done his best to cover as much of the city as possible. There were a few places she could immediately pick out, mostly at the outskirts, and there were one or two spots closer to the center that did not appear to be receiving any of the antidote.

"J'onn, if you cover the northwest sector, I'll get the southeast," the Thanagarian said.

" _Understood."_

Gliding through the air, Shayera headed towards her handpicked section. Spotting an antidote-free area, she pulled out one of the many small canisters she carried in a bag at her hip. Holding it firmly with one hand, she used her other hand to grip the top and turn it to the right. On the canister's lid was a tiny square window, a number appearing in it as she turned it. When the number five appeared, she stopped, holding the canister away from her before she let go.

Keeping her eyes on it, she watched as it fell at an increasing acceleration before it suddenly combusted, a large cloud of orange gas exploding in all directions. This was when Shayera really paid attention, making sure the cloud floated down into the gas-free area. It wasn't perfect, but she received the results as wanted as the orange gas covered that section of the city.

Immediately, the winged woman darted towards another part of the city, putting on another five-second fuse on a canister. Reaching another cure-free zone, she dropped the canister, pausing long enough to watch it exploded and drifted downward into the correct place.

Over and over she did this, though she noticed quite a few other orange clouds appearing to the north where J'onn was. The Thanagarian was sure to keep her altitude though, so she could create as large of a cloud as she could to cover whatever area was lacking in the antidote.

Eventually, there came a time where she couldn't see any other place she was needed. In fact, things were quieting down with J'onn as well, until there weren't any canisters being detonated. Of course, it was at that time the Batwing entered her peripheral vision, circling around Central City's outskirts.

" _Is that everyone?"_ Batman asked.

"Think so," Shayera answered, her head slowly moving from side to side as she did another scan of the city. "I'm not seeing anymore hot spots."

" _Neither am I,"_ J'onn added.

" _Hold on, I'm doing a thermal imaging of the city,"_ Batman spoke then. Curiously, the redhead looked towards the Batwing, watching as it flew over Central City again, though at a more sedate pace than what it had been. It was several minutes and a few more passes before the vigilante finally said, " _Scans are clear. Time to clear out."_

"Excellent," Shayera said out loud, mostly to herself. Considering she hadn't used her comm link, she doubted the other two heard her. Activating her earpiece, she then spoke, "We'll rendezvous at headquarters."

* * *

Crossing multiple time zones was rough on the body. Though the hour hand could change without much trouble, the body didn't recognize that change, its internal clock set on what it perceived as day and night. Jetlag was just beginning to settle into Batman's mind as he landed his plane in the cave.

J'onn and Hawkgirl were on their way to Happy Harbor following their success in Central City. Unfortunately, the Justice League Headquarters lacked a hanger since its members had little need for vehicles. That meant he had to drop his plane off and teleport in, an extra step he was resigned to.

As the engine slowly died, the cockpit's canopy opening up and Batman hauled his weary body out of the cockpit, dropping and landing on his feet on the floor. Walking towards the wing, he lowered his body down so he could move beneath it. Emerging on the other side, he made his way to a couple of large tanks, a long hose lying on the ground next to them.

Grabbing the hose, the vigilante dragged it back to the jet, pulling himself and the hose up on top of the plane's wing. With practiced ease he located the fuel panel and opened it. Pulling on the hose to get more slack, he then plunged the hose's nozzle into the open panel. Making sure it was secure in its place, he then hopped off the wing and made his way back to the tanks. Finding a nearby control panel, he turned it on before he initiated the fueling program. It would take some time before it was complete, but at the very least he'd have a fully gassed plane at a moment's notice.

There were other maintenance issues he'd have to deal with, but right now he had a meeting to go to. Raising a hand to his cowl, he activated his comm link and inquired, "J'onn, are you at HQ?"

The Martian was quick to respond. " _I am. Are you requesting a transport?"_

"I am."

" _Very well. Fifteen seconds."_

Calmly Batman waited until a white light began to overwhelm his vision. The cave vanished a moment later until the light began to dim, the sight of the Monitor Room coming into focus. Immediately he spotted J'onn by a computer station, his orange eyes looking to the vigilante.

"Any word from Wonder Woman and Flash?" the Dark Knight asked as he stepped off the teleportation pad.

J'onn shook his head as he replied, "No word as of yet, though the signal from their comm links indicate they are on their way back."

"And Superman?"

"Nothing still."

There was a pause, something Batman couldn't help but narrow his eyes at. There was something else J'onn was keeping quiet about. "There's something else," he pressed.

The Martian appeared hesitant, but eventually gave in. "I tried to locate Superman by his comm link as well. The signal is dead."

Batman cursed under his breath before he turned away, heading towards the exit. He heard J'onn following a moment later, his longer legs allowing him to catch up with the vigilante. "You believe something's happened to him," the Martian stated succinctly.

"Until proven otherwise, yes," he replied bluntly. "I'll wait until I hear the report, but I highly doubt it will be positive."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw J'onn pull up next to him, matching the dark-clad man's pace. "I am of the same mind," the taller man admitted. "This foe of yours is proving to be quite formidable."

The rest of the trip was made in silence, mostly because Batman didn't like the idea of a psychopath being an equal match for some of the most powerful heroes on the planet. It seemed ludicrous to think about it, but so far the evidence proved otherwise.

As they reached the meeting room, they found Hawkgirl lounging in her seat, her legs propped up on the table, her arms on the armrests. She was quick to note there were only two of them. "The others aren't back yet?"

"They're on their way," Batman replied as he made his way to his own seat, J'onn doing the same. He decided not to mention his and J'onn's suspicion regarding Superman's continued absence and fortunately the winged woman didn't ask, seeming content in his answer. This was something he found surprising considering he knew just how inquisitive the Thanagarian was.

"They better hurry up then. We have a debrief to go through," she muttered, shifting in her seat, but not bothering to move her legs from the table.

How gracious of her to only want to hear things once. Still, at least he wouldn't have to repeat himself over and over. With nothing left to say, the three sat in silence, waiting for their teammates to return.

In was a while before the doors to the meeting room were slammed open, Flash standing in the middle of the doorway with his arms extended out to either side of him. There was a pleading look on his face the moment he looked at the three Leaguers. "Please tell me you did it," he begged. "Central City's gonna be okay, right?"

In response, Hawkgirl merely raised an arm up, giving the young man a thumb's up. The tension in Flash's body left him, causing his shoulders to sag as he dropped his head. "Thank you, God, thank you," he whispered.

That was when Diana appeared behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder and gave him a comforting squeeze. She looked as if she wanted to say something to, but it seemed she could tell there wasn't anything more than needed to be said.

Unfortunately, they had a debriefing to do, which had to interrupt Flash's display of relief. "There's been extensive damage to the infrastructure, but nothing that can't be repaired," Batman spoke, earning him the attention of the entire room. "Most, if not all, inhabitants of the city have been inoculated, but it will take them time to overcome the effects of the Joker Venom."

"How long are we talking about?" Flash asked, straightening his posture out as he dropped his arms to his side.

"A day, two at most. It's hard to say considering this is a new strain. For now, Central City is out of danger."

Flash and Diana began taking their seats then. "Any chance of a repeat performance?" the red-clad man questioned.

"Can't say. Until we can determine what the Joker's ultimate goal is, he could attack as many times as he wants, or he could be finished."

"That's comforting," Flash said sarcastically.

"Can't say the same thing about us," Hawkgirl interjected then. Sometime during Batman's briefing she had slid her feet off the table and was leaning forward in her chair, her arms resting on the tabletop in front of her. "Since you two came in without Superman, I'm guessing he's still missing."

Diana was slow to nod her affirmation, but she did so as she replied, "You're correct. Flash and I searched all over Metropolis and we couldn't find him at all. I even tried hailing him over his communicator and he never answered. It's as if he vanished into thin air."

Batman glanced to J'onn, who caught his look. The Martian cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the room. "Just a short while ago I tried to locate Superman by his comm link, but I discovered he is currently not broadcasting a signal at this time."

Flash groaned. "The sun's practically up by now and you're telling me we don't even have a lead on Supes? This just gets better and better."

There was a silence then. It was obvious tempers were beginning to flare, but were currently being restrained if only in the name of professionalism. There was repressed energy just begging to be unleashed. Unfortunately for the Leaguers, the one person they could hit was just as unavailable as Superman.

They were being picked off one by one, a feeling that did not settle well with any one of them.

"Okay, so searching for possible hiding places for the Joker didn't work," Hawkgirl spoke then. "That means we need to change tactics. So far we're only reacting to what this guy is doing—so we need to flip this around and make _him_ react to _us._ "

There were nods of agreement, save from Batman. He was more engrossed in his own thoughts. The chief one was why the Joker was doing this. What did he stand to gain from targeting the Justice League? He couldn't think of a benefit other than there was a larger plan in the works, one that required that the League be out of the way before it was implemented.

Yet, the madman was going out of his way to make sure everyone knew he was behind everything. It made more sense for him to keep himself hidden out of sight until the last possible moment, or when it was required of him to make an appearance. While there hadn't been a physical sighting of the green-haired clown, his fingerprints on everything that had happened today were obvious.

Damn it, where was the benefit?

Suddenly, the hologram project came to life, which startled Batman out of his thoughts. As the holographic image appeared, alarm welled up within the vigilante. The only reason this would be happening is because of an immanent threat. Through a surveillance program in the Monitor Room, an alert system was activated when the program detected a high-level threat—namely an alien invasion, or a suspect on the Interpol Most Wanted list had been detected. A glance to the other Leaguers told him they were all just as astonished by this new development.

When the image appeared, it was of a Metropolis news channel, a reporter crouching next to an open door in a helicopter. A microphone clutched tightly in his hand, the reporter was shouting to be heard over the loud spinning of the helicopter blades.

" _This just happened mere minutes ago. We're making another pass, but you'll be able to see the devastation in a few seconds."_

That was when the cameraman zoomed on the scene beyond the reporter and the description was quite apt for what was being shown. Chunks of buildings and skyscrapers were missing with piles of debris lying on the street.

"Holy crap!" Flash exclaimed, jerking his head to look at Diana, who was doing the same with a look of astonishment on her face. "We just left there, what, less than half an hour ago? It didn't look anything like that!"

That was when the reporter shouted, " _Look out!"_ and the helicopter suddenly took evasive action. The camera shook all over the place, but if Batman wasn't mistaken, he could've sworn he caught sight of a car flying from one side of the image to the other.

"Those people are under attack!" Diana exclaimed, standing straight up as she knocked her chair over. Flash and Hawkgirl were on their feet a moment later, the three heroes turning to head for the exit and most likely the Monitor Room.

That left Batman and J'onn as the only ones watching the image as someone was screaming, " _Get us out of here! Get us out of here!"_ over and over. And it was because of this they were able see to the helicopter suddenly rock violently from side to side before going completely still.

" _Ohhhh, Looooooois…"_

The sound of that voice caused all of the Leaguers to freeze where they were at. As Diana, Flash, and Hawkgirl turned around to look in shock, Batman and J'onn stared with wide eyes as a familiar, yet disfigured face appeared on screen through the open helicopter door.

His face was pale and stood out in contrast to the dark colors of his blue and red uniform. Eyes bulging out of their sockets and a smile that covered the entirety of his lower face, it took less of a second for all of them to recognize who they were staring at.

" _I know you're heeeeere, Loooooois,"_ Superman sang off tune, his manic expression growing wider. " _Come out, come out, wherever you aaaaaaaaaare!"_


	7. Battle Of Metropolis

As the white light faded away, the sight of a ruined Metropolis greeted the Justice League. Diana couldn't help but widened her eyes at the destruction, where once polished buildings were covered with cracks, broken-off pieces lying in the streets, a few of which were burning if the rising clouds of smoke were any indication, and then a couple flat-out leveled buildings. The morning light gave off a sense that the destruction was already finished rather than only beginning.

Someone brushed against Diana's shoulder, shaking her out of her astonishment. That person turned out to be Batman, who only seemed to give a cursory glance as he moved away from the group rather than share in the frightful stupor.

The vigilante suddenly spun around. "If the television broadcast was any indication, Superman is searching for Lois Lane. This isn't even close to her apartment building, so she's either not there, or Superman is not in the right frame of mind to check."

Hawkgirl stepped forward then. "So what's the plan?"

"You four try to calm Superman down. If that fails, take him out," Batman ordered. It seemed the seriousness of the situation rendered any shock value mute. Diana had at least expected Flash or Hawkgirl to protest, but all either of them did was nod their acceptance. The Amazon Princess did the same as well.

"What do you intend on doing?" J'onn inquired then.

"I'm going to track down Lane. Once I get her to a safe location, I'll be heading underground." The Dark Knight then raised his arms up, tapping a button on one of this gauntlets. In response, a light shined upwards, creating a city grid of what most likely was Metropolis. A red dot blinked over and over at one point, drawing Diana's curiosity. "If you're unable to subdue Superman, lead him to this location. It's underground, so under no circumstances are you to force him through the street. That would defeat the entire purpose."

"Mind telling us what you have in mind?" Hawkgirl pressed.

Batman shook his head. "He could be listening right now, so it's best I say nothing further." The holographic map faded away just before the dark-clad man dropped his arms to his sides beneath his cape, only for one to reemerge with his grapple in hand. "Good luck to you all."

The other four Leaguers gave sharp nods before J'onn and Hawkgirl took flight, Flash racing off down the street. Before she moved, Diana placed a hand on the Dark Knight's shoulder. "Be careful," she cautioned him.

The corner of Batman's mouth twitched up. "I will. Now go."

Giving him a comforting smile, Diana then lifted off into the air, giving chase to her comrades. Behind her, she heard the grapple gun fire, signifying Batman was on the move.

With the wind blowing her hair back, the Amazon picked up her speed until she caught up with the others, keeping pace with them as they sought out Superman. "Any idea where Superman is?" Hawkgirl asked, more to fill the silence than anything.

Up ahead, a sudden explosion rang out, sending a cloud of dark smoke into the air.

"There," Diana replied matter-of-factly.

Speeding up, soon the three were landing on broken pavement, watching with concern as Superman was dancing down the street, holding two cars upside down in his hands. Even more alarming was that he was singing off-tune.

"Oh where, oh where has my Looooois gone? Oh wheeeeere, oh where can she beeeee?"

"Okay, who wants to start talking to him?" the Thanagarian questioned as she raised her mace up, clutching its shaft tightly.

J'onn seemed up to the task as he took a step forward. "Superman," he called out, earning him the attention of the Kryptonian, the man spinning around to face them. The movement caused some sort of necklace to swing with his body, a glowing, purple gem bouncing on his chest. "Please, set the cars down."

For a moment, Superman's pale face seemed confused, that was until he began to smile widely. "J'onn! Old buddy, old pal! You can help me, hee hee! I can't seem to find my Lois! She has to be here somewhere!"

"We will assist you," the Martian promised. "You only need to calm down and come with us."

"Not without Lois, nope, nope, nope. I'm not going aaaaaaaanywhere without her."

"Please, I must insist. Look around you; you are damaging your city. Your people are in fear of you. For your sake, you must—"

"Find Lois!" Superman interrupted. "And if you won't help me, then your—"

It was about then that Diana realized that Hawkgirl was not at her side. So consumed was she at the sight of this manic Superman, she failed to see the winged woman slowly separate herself from their group and circle around until she stood right behind the Man of Steel. As Superman began to make his threat, the Thanagarian suddenly charged in, slamming her mace against the back of his head and sending him flying head first to the two Leaguers.

Unfortunately, this caused the upside-down cars in his hands to go tumbling through the air. Immediately, Diana and J'onn dashed forward and passed the careening Kryptonian, each one catching a car and holding it up in midair. A blur of yellow and green shot by the Amazon then, Diana realizing it was Hawkgirl giving chase as she held her electrified mace at the ready, letting out a war cry as she closed in on their friend.

Placing her car down right-side up, the dark-haired woman turned her head in time to see Hawkgirl reach Superman—who had managed to stop his flight and turn around—and swing her mace, slamming it against the side of his face and causing his head to snap to a side. Back and forth, the Thanagarian swung her weapon, each time landing a blow to one side of the Kryptonian's head and then the other, causing him to back up a step from every blow.

That was until Superman suddenly shot a hand up and caught the next incoming hit, his hand grabbing onto the mace's head. Despite the electricity dancing on the weapon, and subsequently up the Man of Steel's arm, he seemed to utterly ignore it. "You're being a rude little girl," he said in a teasing voice.

He then pulled the mace up and to a side, forcing a surprised Hawkgirl to turn against her will. Faster than a blink of an eye, Superman balled his other hand into a fist and rammed it right into the winged woman's ribs, the blow sending her flying away, crying out as she crashed right into the face of a building and busting right through it. A moment later, she emerged still flying out of control as she burst out through the roof, a trail of dust and smoke following her.

"Ha ha ha!" Superman laughed as he began to squeeze his hand, the Nth metal of the mace crumpling within his grasp. A sharp jerk of his arm and a release of his grip sent the ruined weapon flying like a missile until it slammed into a fire hydrant, destroying it and sending a geyser of water shooting up into the air.

"Superman is not in his right mind," J'onn suddenly spoke up, appearing at Diana's side. A glance to the Martian told her he was preparing himself for action, something she hadn't ever seen him do before. It was a jarring sight. "I've been trying to reach him telepathically, but everything is too chaotic and overwhelmed. I believe we are going to have to use force to take him down."

Diana frowned. "Can you tell what is causing this madness?"

"If you're implying that an outside force is controlling Superman, then no I cannot." It was the Martian's turn to frown. "In fact I cannot discern where the source of this is coming from."

That was something that Amazon did not like to hear. Had J'onn been able to detect someone pulling Superman's mental strings, such as they were, then he could've severed the link and end this now. Now though, they were left trying to figure out this mystery while avoiding injury to themselves and their friend. Unfortunately, their comrade did not seem as interested as they were in preserving life at the moment.

"Hee hee, c'mon guys, what's the hold up? That isn't all you have, right?" Superman taunted them.

It was a goad, though not a very good one. Still, they could not hold off this fight any longer.

As one, Diana and J'onn launched themselves towards their foe.

* * *

Hauling himself over the railing, Batman landed on his feet on the balcony. A cursory look around told him he was all alone with little he could consider dangerous to his well-being unless you didn't consider a sudden fall from ten stories deadly.

A sliding glass door was in front of him, a set of blinds blocking visual access into the room beyond it. Reaching to his belt, he opened one of the pouches and pulled out his set of lock picks. Eyeing the lock on the door, the vigilante opened the set, pulling out one of the picks. Closing the distance between him and the door, he slid the pick into the lock and made short work of it, opening the sliding door a moment later.

Brushing the blinds aside, Batman emerged into a furnished apartment, one that hadn't changed much since he was last here. A small television in the kitchen was on, the sound indicating it was displaying the big news story of the day. It was a testament to how captivating Superman's attack on Metropolis was that the apartment's resident didn't even hear him enter.

Silently he made his way through the room until he stood behind the dark-haired woman. Not once had she turned to look at him, but then, the horrified look on her face probably was a good indicator of what she was more interested in.

"Lois," he greeted.

A sharp scream echoed throughout the apartment as Lois Lane jumped where she stood before spinning around, her violet eyes filled with fear, which was quickly replaced with anger. Immediately, she slapped her hand on his chest, hitting him with as much strength as she could muster. "Don't _do_ that!" she shouted, her other hand pressed hard against her own chest, as if it would help keep her beating heart in place.

Batman ignored the reaction. "You need to come with me," he told her succinctly.

That confused the dark-haired woman. "Huh? Why? What is going on here?"

"Superman is tearing apart the city looking for you. It would be in your best interest if he didn't find you."

"You mean all of this," at this Lois waved a hand towards the television, "is all about Superman finding me? He could level Metropolis at the rate he's going! Why not take me to him and end this?"

It was clear to Batman that the reporter knew very little about the situation at hand. He had little choice but to tell her just what her future entailed should she decide to do the very thing he rather her not do.

"Superman is currently in a state of mania induced by a new strain of Joker Venom. If he were to find you, he'd probably give you the same physical treatment he's giving to Metropolis."

Lois blinked her eyes owlishly before she turned to gaze at the TV, then returned her attention to him. "You know, I just had the thought that if I met up with Superman, he'd turn me into grape jelly. So how about I go with you and you tell me how he became Jokerized."

The Dark Knight held back a snort. "Still working on how he became this way."

The reporter gaped at him. "Still working...how do you not know _how_ he started acting this way? I mean, if you don't know that, how can you say he's been Joker-whatever?"

"Ever seen a person's face go completely white and smile against their will?"

"Uhh, no."

"Well I have. The only difference is that those people died whereas Superman is clearly still breathing."

That seemed to stump the inquisitive woman, if only for a moment. "Do you have any idea how this happened? I mean, Superman's not human. Shouldn't he be immune to that stuff or something?"

That had been a question rattling around in Batman's head the moment he had seen Superman's image on the monitor screen. There was no other explanation to the mania the hero was under except that it was definitely engineered by the Joker, but the how of it was still a mystery. Unfortunately, the time for getting that answer was not now.

So instead of answering her question, the vigilante said, "We're out of time here. I'm taking you to a safe house that should keep you from being detected by Superman—hopefully."

"Well, that's reassuring," Lois replied snarkily.

* * *

Like a missile, Diana charged through the air, her hands balled into fists and held at either side of her. As the distance between her and the manic Superman shrank, she drew her right arm back before swinging it forward as she let out a war cry.

And just like Superman would have done against a new foe in his normal state of mind, he let the blow land against his face. However, unlike those previous times, Diana knew she had the strength to do damage against this man, and his head snapping to a side was proof of that.

Over and over she slammed punch after punch into the Man of Steel, each blow knocking him back a step as he attempted to regain his balance. Head, chest, abdomen, she attacked them all, hoping to pummel her opponent into submission. Oddly enough, she couldn't help but spare the occasional glance to the purple gem he wore around his neck, the jewel thrashing about from all the body blows she delivered. There was something about it she didn't like just on instinct.

Unfortunately, her plan to beat down her foe was dashed when Superman suddenly caught one of her punches, causing the Amazon to hesitate. "Now, that's not very nice," he said in a sickeningly sweet voice, one she had never heard uttered by the Kryptonian before. "I'm going to have to teach you some manners."

Superman's fist flew faster than she could see, but she definitely felt it when the uppercut collided with her chin. Head snapping backwards, the Amazon was sent flying backwards, allowed to as Superman released his hold on her hand the moment his hit landed. Crying out, the dark-haired woman sailed through the air until she managed to get control of herself. Returning her attention back to the Man of Steel as quickly as she could, she found J'onn had engaged the dark-haired man, having rammed a shoulder into his back and crushing Superman down onto the pavement of the street. The asphalt broke and crumbled, pieces of it jutting upward at the edges of the slowly forming crater.

Impressively enough, J'onn was actually holding Superman down, one hand pinning one of Superman's arms against his back while his other hand pressed down on the Kryptonian's head, pushing it further into the broken street.

Unfortunately, the Martian couldn't hold his opponent down. Without warning, Superman began to spinning around, becoming a tornado of red and blue. The whirling sound of rock scraping against steel rang out. Surprised, J'onn lost his grip, jerking his arms back to prevent himself from being caught in the vortex.

This left him wide open to the fist Superman extended out at the last moment, backhanding the Martian against his face and sending him skimming over the street until he crashed into the side of a building. Thankfully he didn't burst through the wall, instead creating a spider's web of cracks at the point of impact.

By this time, Superman had stopped spinning, the man beginning to stand on his feet. Immediately, Diana charged at him, this time leaning backwards as she extended her legs out in front of her. As she intended, her feet slammed into the side of Superman's head, knocking him off his feet and sent crashing to the ground. Yet, he didn't stop there, the force of the blow causing him to skid against the asphalt and leaving a trench of broken pavement in his wake. Eventually he came to a stop, lying face first on the ground, small clouds of smoke wafting up into the air from various points of the trench.

Landing on the ground, Diana assumed a defensive stance. She wasn't sure what to expect from Superman considering everything she knew from their spars had not proven to be the case here. Sure his defense was abysmal, but his attack patterns were too random to predict. With the power he had, that made for a very dangerous opponent.

That was when Superman began to move. Over-exaggerating his arms movements, he raised them up before bringing them down, pressing his palms into the asphalt as he pushed his upper body up. Soon he was back on his feet, turning around with a hunch in his back, looking at her with the same manic-laced eyes and looking no worse for wear.

"My turn!" he jeered before he took off flying, closing the distance between them rapidly. Dropping a hand to her hip, Diana patiently waited until the last moment before she leaped off the ground, swinging her legs up and over her head as she went into a flip. Superman flew by harmlessly beneath her, beginning to slow down as he realized he missed her. Completing her flip, Diana landed on her feet on the ground, her hand grasping one end of her Lasso of Truth.

Spinning around, the Amazon swung her arm out, whipping the Lasso right at the Man of Steel. Superman caught sight of the approaching golden rope and raised an arm up to defend himself. He obviously didn't expect the Lasso to fly right by him before swinging to a side. Rapidly, the coils of the Lasso wrapped around the Kryptonian, pinning his arms to his sides.

"The Lasso of Truth commands you to face its truth," Diana proclaimed, the rope glowing even brighter. In response, Superman's face flushed with pain, finally altering the wide smile that had been plastered on his face. He began to hiss loudly as the Lasso burned at the lies in his mind.

"Stop…it…" he grounded out between clenched teeth.

"Not until you rid yourself of the lies that infest you," the dark-haired woman returned.

For several moments they were at this standstill. This concerned Diana. It was as if the war between truth and deceit occurring within Superman was tearing him apart, at least that's what she could gather from his pained groans.

And then he looked at her, his eyes no longer infected with the madness he had been under. "Look...out…" Superman spoke softly before his eyes glowed red.

Alarms went off in Diana's head as Superman's heat vision fired twin red beams at her. In response, she jerked her arms up, deflecting the beams upward into the sky.

Unfortunately, that led to a break in her connection with the Lasso. Though she held it in her hand, her lapse allowed the taut cord to loosen slightly. That was all Superman needed as he forced his arms out, spreading the coils out wide. Using his super speed, he forced the Lasso up over his head where it seemed to hover in midair as a hive of rope.

In a blur of red and blue, Superman dashed towards her, leveling the Amazon with a powerful haymaker as his fist rammed into her chest. The force of the blow sent her flying backwards, the air in her lungs forced out, leaving her breathless. The next thing she knew, her back collided with a building, the wall giving out as she burst right through it; yet, her flight did not stop. Wall after wall broke against her until she exploded out the other side, finally hitting the ground and skidding across it until she came to a stop.

A sharp gasp escaped Diana's lips as she sucked in as much air as she could. That...that had hurt. _Really hurt._ She couldn't think of a time when she had been hit like that. Chest rising and falling rapidly, she tried to catch her breath.

A sound caught her ear then. Raising her head up, she saw Superman charging at her at full speed, a wrecking train promising certain destruction. Her body still recovering, Diana couldn't have moved to defend herself even if she wanted too.

The next two seconds happened in a blur. One moment she stared at the Man of Steel as he closed in on her; the next he transformed into a spinning, red tornado mere feet away from her. A powerful wind slammed into her, causing her hair to whip around wildly.

The tornado came to a stop, revealing Flash with his arms extended out in front of him, facing to her left. The sound of breaking stone caught Diana's ear, causing her to look to its source and found Superman's body embedded in the side of a building, cracks extended out in all directions on the wall's surface.

It took a moment for Diana to process it all, but eventually it came to her. Flash had arrived at the literal last moment and grabbed Superman, using his speed to spin them around until he threw him at the building. Thank Hera for that intervention.

"Looks like I got here just in time," the red-clad man quipped then, sparing a glance to Diana before returning his attention to the Kryptonian.

"Where have you been?" the dark-haired woman couldn't help but breathlessly ask.

"Oh, minding my own business, making sure Hawkgirl was okay, stopped for a bite to eat. You know, the necessities." Though his tone was joking, his next words became serious. "I take it you weren't able to reason with Big Blue."

"We weren't." Slowly, Diana got back onto her feet, turning to face in their friend's direction. "And we've had about the same amount of luck trying to beat him."

"Well, let's see what I can do to help."

That was when one of Superman's arms twitched. The entire time he had been stuck in the wall, it looked as if he had been sleeping, but now his eyes were open. Jerking his body forward, he pulled out of the building, small pieces of concrete falling off of him. Gradually, he drifted downward until he landed on the ground. "So, you want a turn, huh?" the Kryptonian mocked.

"Well, you are next on my dance card," Flash replied. "And I never miss a dance."

"Hee hee hee! Good one. I'll have to remember that." Then Superman charged, flying straight at the speedster. Drawing a fist back, he threw it, only to harmlessly hit air as Flash darted to a side. Undeterred, the Man of Steel threw another punch and then another, only for Flash to sidestep each and every one.

"You know, I could keep this up all day," the young man remarked, dodging another punch. "But I have places to be, people to see, and much better things to do."

That's when Flash ducked another blow and shot a foot out, kicking out Superman's feet from beneath him. Surprise lit up the man's face as he began to tumble forward, only for Flash to grab onto his extended arm. Twisting his body, the speedster swung the Kryptonian through the air and sent him flying, the man crashing face first into the base of a nearby building.

"Unfortunately, I think it's going to take a lot more than that to knock you out." Flash then looked to Diana. "Any ideas, Wondy?"

It turned out there was no time for her to respond. The sound of Superman standing up earned him both of their attention. "You're a fast one, aren't you?" he remarked.

Flash smirked. "Fastest man alive."

"That's what she said, hee hee."

Diana...did not see why Superman had said such a thing. Flash, on the other hand, did. His face dropped before he said, "Dude, that's so beneath you. Low blow, Supes. So not cool. A comedian, you ain't."

"I like to think of myself as an exterminator, actually. And since I can't squash the fly I need to kill with my hands, I just need to find a bigger fly swatter."

Superman's eyes glowed red before they fired his heat vision. Strangely, it wasn't at either of the Leaguers, but above their heads. Turning around, Diana saw the beams cut through a tall building behind them, doing so at an angle. The moment the heat vision stopped, the top portion of the building began sliding forward until it began to fall down on top of them.

"Oh, now I get it," Flash said.

Before either of them could react, someone else did, that someone being J'onn. Flying out of nowhere, the Martian caught the building with his arms extended over his head, stopping its descent. Signs of strain appeared on his face, but he didn't seem to be struggling aside from that.

"Johnny's back!" Superman exclaimed, smiling widely. "Glad you could join the party again! Don't think I forgot about you." Again his eyes glowed red. "In fact, you're just in time for the barbecue."

That was the only warning the Man of Steel gave for what he was about to do. The moment she realized it, Diana shot up to the air, flying towards a point between the Kryptonian and Martian. The moment red beams fired from his eyes, the Amazon was looking right at them as they closed in on her. Raising her arms, she felt the beams collide with her bracers, bouncing off of them.

However, the blasts soon stopped reflecting as they began pounding against her arms. The bracers began to heat up to uncomfortable temperatures, causing Diana to realized that Superman had adjusted the power and was intending on burning her arms.

"Take this!"

The voice was familiar and definitely angered. The flying manhole cover that collided with Superman's head a moment later stopped his heat vision as he winced in pain. Looking away, the Amazonian Princess saw Hawkgirl standing a long distance away, the opening of a manhole next to her.

"Every party needs a pooper," Superman began to sing then, keeping his head-tilted pose. Slowly then, he turned to look at the Thanagarian. "That's why they invited you…"

"And I'm about to invite my fist into your face," the winged woman shot back. "I know you're not yourself right now, but you're starting to piss me off."

"Party pooper...party pooper…"

And then the Kryptonian launched himself into the air towards the redhead. However, before either of them could attack, Flash raced passed Superman, wrapping his arms around Hawkgirl and hauling her off the ground. "Gotta catch us first, Supes!" he called over his shoulder as he raced down the street.

Superman obliged him.

"Diana," J'onn grunted then. "I need your assistance in keeping this in place. I can create a temporary fix, but you need to hold this."

"What about Superman?" the Amazon asked, even as she drifted to her friend and began holding the building up.

"I will deal with him shortly," he responded as he drew his hands away. "If you would hold this piece back in its place, I will use my Martian Vision to repair the break."

Doing as requested, Diana found herself doubtful about J'onn's claim. "What do you mean _you_ will deal with Superman? He shrugged us both off like we were insects."

"We were both trying to reason with him and allowed him to obtain the upper hand because of it. I don't know about you, but I held myself back." His face hardening, he then fired the white beam of his Martian vision at the building, beginning his sealing of the two portions of the building.

"This time, I will do no such thing."


	8. Shattered

The buildings around Flash blurred until they were just streaks of random colors mingling on top of each other. The street was just one long grey strip that branched off every nanosecond as he raced through intersection after intersection. Traffic was light, but that was to be expected when an insane Kryptonian was smashing everything in sight.

Clutched in his arms was Hawkgirl, who had her own arms wrapped around his neck as she hung on. That was probably the only time the winged woman would willing press herself against him, considering if she didn't she would be creating some serious drag, which would slow them down. Now, Flash was a gentleman; he knew there were times when to and when not to cop a feel.

This wasn't the time to try.

Glancing over his shoulder, the red-clad man caught sight of Superman flying level with the top of the buildings next to them. That was four or five stories up, give or take. Sadly enough, he was keeping up with their speed, but fortunately wasn't closing the distance either.

Unfortunately, Superman didn't have to be within grabbing distance to wring his neck.

A flash of light alerted Flash to incoming beams of Heat Vision. Without breaking a sweat, twisting an ankle, or shrieking like a little girl, Flash darted to a side, just as the beams hit the ground, drilling into the asphalt. Picking up his pace, he pulled aside of the beams just as they swept over to his previous spot. Shooting to the other side of the street, he led the blasts as they destroyed lane after lane of the road.

"Ha! Nice shooting, Tex!" the speedster shouted over his shoulder the moment he noticed Superman stopped chasing them with his Heat Vision.

"Don't encourage him!" Hawkgirl reprimanded in his ear, causing him to wince. "I'd rather not end up a cooked goose here!"

"Hey, relax," Flash replied soothingly, if not with a healthy dose of cockiness—though he rather consider it confidence. Chicks dug confidence. "I can kick it up another gear. Supes is not going to—"

"Look out!" she interrupted in a loud scream.

Flash didn't bother peeking over his shoulder, nor did he do the River Dance from one side of the road to the other. Instead, he opted to taking a left turn, just before another blast of Heat Vision tore up the pavement. Dashing down a new street, he quickly reached another intersection and took a right this time.

"You were saying?" Flash asked smugly, eyeing the redhead.

Hawkgirl just gave him a deadpanned look. "Don't get full of yourself."

"An utter impossibility. The Flash cannot ever be full."

If Hawkgirl was going to reply to that, she never got the chance. That was mostly due to Flash picking that moment to look further up the street they were on and caught Superman darting out in front of them two intersections down, coming to a stop as he stared right at them. He had his arms crossed over his chest and that wide, creepy smile on his face.

"Oh boy," Flash groaned.

Passing through the first intersection as the two heroes closed the distance between them and the imminent threat, the Man of Steel fired another blast of his Heat Vision at them. Flash had all of two seconds to decide what his next course of action would be or suffer having his head removed with the energy equivalent of a red hot guillotine.

It took him less than one to dart to his right. Closing in on the buildings, his and Hawkgirl's world made a ninety degree turn the moment his foot made contact with the structures, the speedster running across their faces.

With the street acting as a wall to his left and the open sky to his right, Flash raced over concrete and stone. Seeing as he was reaching the edge of the current block, he timed his steps to the very last one, using it to spring off and sail through the air.

Extending a leg out, the moment he reached the next block of buildings, he was immediately running on them, completely bypassing Superman's position in the center of the intersection. Edging to his left, he again timed himself until he once again forced the world to turn, returning to running on the street.

The entire time Hawkgirl's arms had tightened on him, the Thanagarian oddly quiet. The moment the city was right-side up, and they had cleared a few hundred yards, the winged woman turned her head to stare at him and said, "Don't ever do that again."

"No promises," Flash rebutted her.

A big reason for that was because the red-clad hero was a pragmatic kind of guy. He didn't throw out his entire toolbox because someone didn't like one of his hammers. He couldn't fly or bounce bullets off his pecs, but he could run up and down anything he put his foot on. And considering they were heading right for a T-intersection, he felt he needed a third option over turning left or right.

Unfortunately, all of those choices were taken away the moment a pair of red beams flew right by him. They weren't even close, which confused Flash for a moment until he noticed they were at an angle, tearing into the road the moment they hit the pavement.

For a man that was used to having all the time in the world, there wasn't enough for Flash to react as he was immediately upon the impact site. The moment the toe of his foot collided with the broken piece of the street, his balance was shot, and the two heroes were thrown through the air, momentum making sure to carrying them forward.

 _Oh, this is going to suck…_

Because he was a gentleman first, Flash made sure he was the one to hit the ground first. His shoulder took the brunt of the crash. The next was his back and hip as he and his lovely cargo went flipping, rolling, and bouncing down the street. He could've sworn one of them cried out, be it from surprise, pain, and/or fear, but...it was best left unsaid who exactly that was, especially if he wanted his health to stay good.

The sound of glass shattering filled his ears as his back crashed into what he figured was a door—was being the key word here. Cold air blasted onto him as he and Hawkgirl entered a building, the hard pavement being replaced with slick, cool linoleum. A shrilling sound started as they slowed down, stopping the moment they did.

"Last stop…" Flash gasped out, his body throbbing from the beating. "Diapers, beer, and two whipped superheroes."

Hawkgirl stirred against him, slowly pulling herself away. She was silent for a moment before she responded, "Next time, say that when we crash into a grocery store. Would have worked a lot better."

Lifting his head up, Flash glanced around, finding out they were in the lobby of some office building. Okay, so she had a point. Next time he was so using that in an actual grocery store.

That thought died a second later when he saw the shattered door they had crashed through. It was one of several double door sets and one set was definitely broken. However, it was the thing he saw through that opening that caused him to stiffen: a charging Superman, the word giddy doing absolutely nothing to describe the look on his face.

 _Uh oh…_

Then, out of nowhere, J'onn dropped on top of the Kryptonian, his feet slamming on top of his head, smashing it onto the ground. There was a tight look on the Martian's face, something Flash was willing to call his serious face...not that J'onn wasn't ever not serious. The red-clad man released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, hearing it come out as a breathless gasp.

It wasn't often Flash had seen J'onn actively take part in a battle. There were many things the Martian did, but most of it did not require violence. It only spoke to how awful this situation was that the Martian had lashed out.

With that said, why was it Flash was hearing Michael Buffer say, " _Let's get ready to rumblllllllllllle!"_?

* * *

The air was cold and damp, two things Lois did not like seperately and definitely together. There was a stench that made her nose crinkle up in offense; she just knew she was going to have to burn her clothes since that smell was never coming out. Hugging her arms around her body in an attempt to warm herself, she couldn't help but glare at the dark-clad vigilante ahead of her.

It was times like this that the reporter completely regretted ever finding out the secret identity of Batman. Aside from sitting on the hottest story of her career, she had been used as beautiful eye candy to distract targets during the man's investigations, roped into stopping walking refrigerators, and now led to what she had been told was the safest place in Metropolis, but was looking more like an abandoned subway tunnel—and one that had suffered some sewage backup in the not-too-distant past. Grime-covered cement walls surrounded the two on all sides, a pain of train rails leading further down the tunnel with an occasional light fixture attached to the ceiling. Perhaps she needed to be grateful that he hadn't taken her into a sewer—that seemed more his style.

A tremor suddenly shook the tunnel, causing Lois to stop as she looked behind her. A layer of dust and grime that had been sticking to the ceiling was shook off, drifting down as a cloud in the dim lighting.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say someone's having a bad day and they're sharing their grief with the street," she remarked, keeping her slow pace as she continued to follow Batman, turning her head back to look at him.

In response, Batman actually stopped in his tracks and turned to look down the tunnel as well. "They're close," he said more to himself before he picked up his pace. A flashlight was in his hand, its beam providing more light in the subway tunnel.

"That's not exactly a good thing," Lois replied as she hurried to keep up with him. "I mean, we just spent all this time trying to not get caught and now the Justice League is bringing their brawl right up to us."

When Batman remained silent, the dark-haired woman couldn't help but narrow her eyes. "I am right that we don't want them to find us, right?" she asked with a hint of steel in her voice.

"At the moment, yes," he answered her, not once stopping his stride. "But when we get to where we're going, they can show up at any time."

Lois liked to think she knew Bruce Wayne better than most people, mostly due to her knowing his most important secret. That sort of gave her an edge on a lot of people in that regard. So when she listened to his words, she immediately realized that there was another reason why they were down here. "You're planning on them reaching us," she stated then, her nose metaphorically twitching in interest. There was no way she would do that literally because she found the gesture rather unsightly.

It was then that one portion of the wall changed from the dirty cement into solid steel. Noticing the change immediately, most of which had to do with Batman pointing his flashlight right at it, Lois couldn't help but feel like she was about to get her answer in a nonverbal form.

As the light danced over the metal surface, a familiar L-shaped logo appeared, causing the reporter to stop. "What is this?" she demanded. "This belongs to Lexcorp."

"Your point?" Batman asked in return, finally finding what he was apparently looking for—that being a door.

As he approached it, Lois couldn't help but say, "Why would you want to be involved in anything with Luthor's name on it? I mean, the guy practically oozes evil. Don't you hero-types stay way from that kind of person just on principle?"

Instead of offering a viable explanation, the guy in the bat costume answered her question with another question—something that galled her to no end. "If you were going to hide something in Metropolis, what would you hide it as?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" she reprimanded heatedly. "There's no way you could hide anything in this town, especially with Superman around. He could use his x-ray vision and find it, no problem."

"Except in Lexcorp buildings," Batman returned, opening a small panel next to the door. "Luthor's lined all of his buildings with lead, especially the underground levels."

Well, the guy did have a point, as much as Lois was loathe to admit. However, that did get her brain thinking in a higher gear. "So wait, you mean this is—"

"One of Luthor's secret, underground floors? Yes and no." Batman began punching in a code on the keypad, punctuating it with a hard tap on the last key. "Though we are underneath one of Luthor's buildings, he doesn't know this one exists."

"And how would he not know that?" Lois pressed, her interest in this revelation skyrocketing.

"Because this is underneath his secret floors. During construction, this floor was sealed off and consciously forgotten by the contractor and never reported to Luthor. For all he knows, this floor doesn't exist. Any additions that were needed were made by Wayne Enterprises, but a Lexcorp logo was slapped on it to ward off any snoopers. No one messes with Lexcorp property unless they have a good reason to believe they can get away with it."

It went without saying just how often that was accomplished.

Now, Lois had a pretty good idea of why the contractor conveniently forgot about this floor—a lot of it having to involve cold, hard cash, which Bruce Wayne was in no shortage of. And as he explained it, she couldn't help but admire to gall this man had to pull such a fast one on Metropolis' answer to...well, him.

However, she just had to know what was inside this secret place and why Batman had hidden it beneath a Lexcorp building. As the door opened, moving inwards before sliding off to the left, a bright, blue light suddenly flooded out, causing her to squint her eyes as she try to adjust to it.

Unaffected, Batman strode inside, leaving Lois to quickly hurry to the door. Poking her head, she took a good look around and suddenly realized just why the vigilante had come here.

And now she had a second story to sit on...damn it.

* * *

Enough was enough.

J'onn was not a narcissistic man. He did not revel in carnage and mass destruction. However, he could not tolerate watching his friends being hunted down and viciously attacked. While the doer of such offense was his friend and he was not in his right mind, that would only cause him to hold back.

But only so much.

Reaching down, he grabbed Superman by his neck and hauled him up into the air, holding him off the ground as his legs dangled beneath him. Drawing back his free hand, he made a fist with it and let out a mighty roar. Swinging his arm, he leveled a powerful punch against the side of Superman's face and sent him flying high into the air.

However, he didn't release his grip though, instead letting his arm stretch out until he felt his foe reached the peak of his arch. Immediately he swung his elongated arm down, slamming Superman back down on the street of a nearby intersection. This time he released his grip and allowed his arm to return to him, returning it to its original form.

That would not be enough to defeat the Kryptonian, he knew that. That was why he patiently waited for the other man to get back onto his feet.

He was not disappointed. "Where did you come from, Tree Trunk?" Superman exclaimed as he staggered back onto his feet. "If I knew you wanted your turn, I would've said yes."

"That is enough out of you." J'onn began striding towards his opponent. "What has been done can be repaired, but I am putting it to an end."

"Who are you kidding, Johnny? We've only just begun!"

There was a silent cue, each of them lifting up into the air and flying head first at each other. At the same time they both drew back their right first, holding it there until the last possible second, and threw it at each other.

A thunder clap rang out as pain exploded in J'onn's face, his head snapping back from the blow. His lower body continued its forward momentum even as his upper body leaned backwards. Spit flew from his mouth. Faintly, he was aware of Superman mirroring his pose, having received the exact same punch to his own face.

That was just the first sign of damage. A split-second later, glass from doors and windows cracked and shattered as the force of the combined blows blew out and rammed into them, sending shards all over the place.

For a moment, they hung there, the world frozen around them. It was an incredibly silent moment despite the immense power that had been used. For a second, J'onn wished everything could've stayed just like that if only to ensure further strife would end.

And then he felt his foot touch the ground and the world began to speed back up. Recovering as quickly as he could, he directed his attention back to Superman; unfortunately, the Man of Steel was quicker to shrug off the Martian's punch and had thrown another one. Unable to react, J'onn took the full brunt of the hit, the fist ramming into his abdomen. A pained cry tore out of his mouth as the air in his lungs was forced out.

The next one caught him in the face and jerked his head to a side, silencing him; the third hit the opposite side and spun his head the other way. There would not be a fourth one as J'onn ducked down, narrowly avoiding the blow. Countering, he sent his own punch, landing an uppercut that landed under Superman's chin and forced him up into the air.

J'onn gave chase, taking advantage of his turn as he landed blow after blow into the Man of Steel's abdomen, causing him to loom over the green alien helplessly. Each one pushed Superman higher up into the air, which the Martian was happy to close the distance with another punch. It wouldn't last though, as Superman recovered much too quickly again following another gut punch, lashing out with a fist to the Martian's face. That was followed by a kick this time, one that caught him in the side and pushed him away from his foe.

"Hey Johnny, what's black and causes forest fires?" Superman taunted him. His eyes glowed red. "You'll soon find out!"

Eyes widening, J'onn immediately accessed his Martian vision and fired a white beam from his eyes. He was fortunate he reacted so quickly as Superman blasted his own Heat Vision, the red and white beams slamming right into each other.

J'onn couldn't help the grunt that escaped his lips then. Gritting his teeth, he poured more power into his Martian Vision, holding off the Kryptonian's Heat Vision. They were at a stalemate, the two colliding blasts barely giving ground in either direction. Pressed against each other, white and red light bathed the surrounding area, cracklings of electricity filling the air.

They could keep this up forever if they truly wanted to and J'onn was certain Superman wouldn't give up on burning him to a crisp. J'onn, on the other hand, did not care to continue this standstill. However, if he was going to make a move, he needed to do so in a way that didn't harm himself as well.

It would be a risk, but that was a constant in life.

Holding his beam, he didn't increase its strength nor decrease it lest he give away his intent. Superman didn't seem to indicate he was giving up on their stare down. Steeling his nerves, J'onn stopped his Martian Vision while simultaneously dashing to his left. Altering his body, he went translucent before reflecting the colors of his environment, becoming invisible to the naked eye. A moment later, Superman's Heat Vision streaked by him, the heat of the beams sending a mental scream throughout his head, his body flinching.

There was an explosion soon after, but the Martian didn't dare look to see what had been destroyed. He was solely focused on his foe, who ended his red blast, continuing to smile the same grotesque smile. There was no indication he suspected foul play. In fact, he gloated, "Looks like I was wrong, you can't start a forest fire when you're a crisp, ha ha!"

Drifting towards the Kryptonian, J'onn made sure to make as little sound as possible. Though his faculties were impaired, Superman's hearing wasn't and if he even detected movement, he'd be on him. Fortunately, he was easily distracted as he turned his attention elsewhere. "Now where was I? Oh right! Red and Birdgirl!"

By then the Martian was definitely within hitting distance. With an arm already drawn back, J'onn didn't hold back at all as he threw his punch, slamming it into the side of the Kryptonian's head. The force of the blow sent the man crashing into the side of the building next to him, burst through it as he left a hole in his wake.

Though he wasn't a violent man by nature, that had felt satisfying.

* * *

With a sigh, Flash laid flat on his back. He wasn't going to lie, he was a little tired. Using your body like a bouncy ball can do that to a fellow. Besides, J'onn had this. He had managed to sneak up on Supes and forced him into a little dirt nap.

What was the worse that could happen?

"You okay to move?" Hawkgirl asked him, drawing his attention away from his musings, even as the sounds of more destruction outside were being made.

"All things being equal, I'd rather sleep here if that's alright," he answered, not bothering to look at the Thanagarian. Instead he was looking up towards the ceiling, one that had to at least be three stories up. Vaulted ceilings could do that, ya know.

"This might not be the safest place for that," the redhead pressed, much to Flash's annoyance. "I'm hurt and you pissed off an insane Superman. The last place we need to be is where he can get his hands on us."

"Well, when you put it that way, give me a second—"

Suddenly, a thunderous clap rang out, causing the doors to shatter and send pieces of glass flying at them. Instinctively, Flash rolled onto his side, his arms covering his head as he felt the glass pelt his back. What the hell had caused that?!

"On second thought, I think we should get moving, like right now."

"Yeah, I thought you'd say something like that," Hawkgirl said smugly.

Picking himself up, Flash was soon on his feet, glancing around the lobby for another exit—you know, one that currently didn't have the sounds of fighting coming from the other side. "Any idea on how to get out of here?"

As if to agree with his silent thoughts, the winged woman said, "Not that way," with a nod towards the entrance. Red and white light was flooding through the broken doors, which was really making the speedster uncomfortable. Considering that wasn't much of anything that could actually hit him when he was on his guard, he still had that survival instinct in the back of his head that warned him not to go check out those lights. He was inclined to agree with instinct on this one.

And then the wall further down the room exploded, a huge hole being made towards the ceiling as chunks of debris crashed to the floor. Flash flinched away from the wreckage, holding an arm up in front of his face to protected it from random pieces of sheetrock and stone.

That was when J'onn appeared through the hole in the wall. To say that he moved through it wasn't exactly right as much as he seemed to fade into existence. The Martian didn't seem too worse for wear, instead looking down at the rubble below him intently.

Was it just him, or was J'onn actually winning?

As if to prove it, pieces of debris began to shift until they were shoved aside, Superman emerging out like some disfigured flower. Even more irritating was that he still had that smile on his face.

J'onn did not bother to waste time, choosing to charge down like a Martian missile to continue his beat down. Flash wasn't going to lie, he actually was waiting in suspense to see just what would happen.

What he got was completely different from what he expected—and that was not a good thing. As J'onn closed the distance between him and the Kryptonian, the Man of Steel's chest expanded out as if he were taking a deep breath. Then he let it all out, blowing a powerful wind at the charging Martian. Yet, this was no ordinary wind; though slowed down by what had to be hurricane level winds, ice crystals began forming on the green alien's skin, slowly, but surely, encasing him in ice.

By the time Superman stopped his blowing, J'onn had stopped moving, standing in front of the Kryptonian as a posed ice sculpture. He was leaning forward, his cape sticking out from behind him as his arms were raised up, one extended outward as if it had been thrown. "You need to cool down, Johnny," the dark-haired man crowed before he raised a fist up.

Flash was the Fastest Man Alive. He knew what was going to happen before anything was put into motion. Yet, he found himself rooted to the floor as Superman swung his fist and slammed it into J'onn. J'onn's body shattered into what had to be a million pieces, chunks of ice and Martian exploding out in all directions. The pieces scattered all over the room, bouncing on the floor and off walls, a macabre sight if the young man had ever seen one.

" _J'ONN!"_ Hawkgirl screamed, her voice full of rage and sorrow. Before Flash knew it, the winged woman had launched herself forward, flying right by him as she charged right at Superman, fully intent on ripping him apart with her bare hands. Unfortunately, the speedster knew how that story would end and he wasn't going to let it happen a second time if he could help it.

The only problem was that he didn't have enough time to not only prevent Hawkgirl from adding her name to the deceased and do some serious damage to Superman, not the way he was. So he needed to make time. Instantly, he began vibrating his body, the world around him slowly down. What had been a full-on charged by Wings had gone into slow motion, the woman edging at a snail's pace through the air. Superman had his arm extend out, he too moving like molasses as he brought it down.

And the entire time Flash let the kinetic energy he was creating gather throughout his body. Bolts of electricity danced all over his body, growing in frequency the longer he was at this. Vibrating his right fist faster than the rest of his body, the energy began to gather there, draining from the other parts of his body as it was collected.

Ideally Flash would have kept this up for as long as he needed to, to make sure that this would end this miserable fight. Unfortunately, he didn't have that much time, no matter how fast he moved. Every nanosecond brought Hawkgirl closer to her target and that much closer to certain doom.

Gritting his teeth, he knew what he had to do. Launching himself forward, the red-clad man raced towards Superman, who was now beginning to turn towards the airborne Thanagarian. Flash easily overtook her, passing by her in a step. Glancing to her, he couldn't help but see rage and even hate twisting her normally pretty face—at least he assumed it was pretty, what with her mask covering most of it. She definitely looked very hawk-like at the moment.

Arms pumping at his sides, Flash returned his attention to Superman, who was drawing closer with every step he took. Pulling back his power-charged fist, he threw it at the last moment and slammed it right into the side of Superman's face.

Now, the kinetic energy Flash had been storing in his hand was rather potent. Had he had enough time, he could've equaled the energy output of a dwarf star; unfortunately, he had to settle for something a lot less than that. That didn't mean he wasn't packing a powerful enough punch, mind you, cause damage would be done.

In an instant, the world went into normal speed, moment his knuckles came into contact with his foe. Superman was sent flying headfirst into the wall, smashing right through it. From what Flash could see, his body soared through the air until it hit the ground and bounced off it, skipping down the street like a rock over a pond. Simultaneously, pain exploded through his hand and went up passed his wrist. He only gritted his teeth in response, mostly as he stiffened his legs in an attempt to stop, his feet ending up skidding across the floor. The heat of the friction burned at the bottom of his boots as he slid clear out of the building, finally stopping on the sidewalk just before he reached the curb.

Hissing, the speedster slowly knelt down onto a knee, cradling his injured hand with his other. Looking at it through squinted eyes, he could barely spread his fingers as more pain screamed down his arm. Oh yeah, he totally broke something. This hand was useless for the day.

Totally worth it though.

It was several seconds before he felt a presence behind him, Hawkgirl placing a hand on his shoulder. "Flash, what did you do?" she asked in a breathy tone. "That...that was just…"

"Oh, nothing much," he finished for her. "Just decked the Boy Scout and sent him on an all-expense paid trip to Dreamsville. I just hope he stays there because I don't think I can do that again."

"Huh? Why not?"

"I kinda broke two of my knuckles and probably fifteen bones in my hand—but hey, who's counting?"

"Oh." Hawkgirl offered him a comforting smile. "Considering what's happened today, I think we can forgive you for that."

"Thanks. You don't know how much that means to me," the red-clad man replied sarcastically.

It was about then that Wonder Woman showed up, landing next to them gracefully. Her eyes were wide as she took in the scene around them. "What happened here?" she couldn't help but ask.

"About time you showed up, Princess," the Thanagarian responded. "We've had a hell of a time here. Flash just knocked Superman into the next town and J'onn is…" she trailed off then.

That got the Amazon's attention. "What happened to J'onn?" she demanded.

"He's in about a million pieces inside there," Flash answered her, tilted his head towards her so he could nod to the building behind them. "Supes decided to flash freeze him and make confetti out of him."

"Hera."

Unfortunately, a cloud of smoke suddenly shot up into the air down the street, causing the three heroes to look in its direction. Though it was a pretty good distance away, neither of them could mistake the figure of a man emerging from it, walking down the street at a slow pace.

"Damn it all!" Hawkgirl snarled. "What does it take to put this son of a bitch down?!"

Flash was inclined to agree. They were really running low on options here, what with his hand busted up, J'onn out of commission, and Hawkgirl hurt in who knows where. That left them with one fully functioning Amazon.

Those weren't betting odds by far.

If they were going to come out of this in the best way possible, they needed a plan. No more of this one-on-one stuff they had been doing. All that had gotten them was slowing down Superman, but it had the price of picking them off one by one. It was a little late for a coordinated effort considering they weren't anywhere close to being at one hundred percent, so planning out their next move would...would…

Wait, plan.

It was going to be considered reckless, but there weren't a lot of options at the moment. "Wondy, do you think you can distract Supes for me?" he suddenly asked, drawing the attention of the two women next to him.

"Distraction?" the Amazon echoed in confusion. "Why do you need me to do so?"

"Because it was high time we got Supes to the location Bats told us about. If I charge in right now, he's going to be ready for me. But if you get his attention on you, I can surprise him and get him there before he has a chance to figure out up from down."

"Uhhh, that's your idea?" Hawkgirl interjected with disbelief in her tone. "I hate to break it to you, Flash, but if we can't put a dent in Mr. Tomorrow over there, there's no way a rich guy in body armor is going to do anything."

Surprisingly, it was Wonder Woman who jumped in to defend Flash's idea and subsequently Batman—read, ulterior motive. "Batman wouldn't have told us to bring Superman there if he didn't have some sort of plan that could end this conflict. If he does have a countermeasure, we need to make use of it."

That made the redheaded woman pause. "Okay, you've got a point. Let's make this happen."

"Alright, Wondy, just make sure he's all eyes on you. Don't actually fight him unless you have too," Flash ordered.

"Consider it done," the dark-haired woman replied before she began to hover in air, shooting forward towards the approaching Kryptonian.

And just like Flash wanted, Superman focused his attention right on the charging Amazon. "Back for more, Sweety? I hope you're ready for something hot!"

Steeling his features, Flash took off to his right, racing up the face of a building until he reached the roof. Taking a left there, he ran until he reached its edge and subsequently a street creating one edge of a block. He ignored it as he leaped over the street, reaching the buildings on the other side and continued running.

He did this a couple more times before he chose to run down the side of one set of buildings, reaching street level in the blink of an eye. As he glanced to his left, he could clearly see Superman and Wonder Woman in mid-charge, both combatants on one side of the intersection with their arms raised up to fight and inching closer towards each other.

This time Flash shot towards Superman, the entire time seeing no change in the man's posture. Normally it was a lot harder to sneak up on the guy, what with his enhanced hearing and other powers, but thanks to whatever was making him a walking, talking Joker clone, his focus was way too narrow to make use of those other powers. That was why he was able to run right up to the man, grab him by his arm and immediately began spinning in place, swinging the Kryptonian in a circle.

The world blurred around the two of them, taking on a reddish, bluish tint thanks to Superman's colors. The spinning was to disorient that man long enough that Flash could get him underground without so much as moving a finger and so far it was working. Picking out a nearby set of stairs that led down to a subway station, Flash stopped his spinning and dashed towards, dragging Superman along with him. Before either of them could blink, they were in the station, moving onto the tracks. By the time the red-clad man blinked again, he was in the middle of a dark tunnel, one broken up occasionally by the lights of another subway station. Fortunately there were no trains on the tracks right now, otherwise things would be a little difficult.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed onto the hero's shoulder, squeezing it painfully. Jerking his head to a side, Flash was horrified to see an oriented Superman looking back at him. "You missed your stop."

And that's when something collided with the toe of Flash's boot, throwing him off balance. _For the love of God!_ he screamed in his head as he went crashing headfirst into the ground, skidding over it several feet. At the very least, it separated him from Superman though, the Kryptonian landing further up ahead and also sliding until he came to a stop.

"Ow," Flash moaned before he started to push himself up. A look around told him they were both in some subway tunnel, though if this was where Batman said to go, he wasn't quite sure. While he always had a general idea of where everything was and where he needed to be, doing so without any visible markers around didn't make it easy as such was the case.

And considering he had a crazy Kryptonian also getting back to his feet, that wasn't a good thing.

Just as Flash scrambled back onto his feet, readying himself for whatever heinous things his friend was about to do to him, red light suddenly filled the tunnel. Both men were surprised as they jerked their heads to different sides. The source of the light, Flash was quick to spot, were these three foot rods that stuck out of the ground, the light itself coming from a square box on top of the rods. It almost looked like a red reflector off a bicycle.

These rods were each placed at even intervals, forming a circle around them—and a big one at that. Glancing behind him, Flash noticed one of the rods was pointed at an angle, completely different from the others that stood straight up. He must've tripped over that one, if he had any guess.

"Oooh, I just love red," Superman giggled. "It looks just like the color of blood."

 _Ugh, really?_ Flash couldn't help but facepalm himself. Sometimes he wondered if Supes actually worked to be as corny as he was at times. This was no different. However, when he dropped his hand from his face, he quickly spotted another source of red light, one that didn't belong to the circle. In fact it was coming from outside the circle and it was getting closer.

The sound of crunching gravel reached his ears then. That had to belong to a person. As the light grew bigger, the sound grew louder. Unfortunately, due to the light, there was no telling who was creating it.

That all changed when the person entered the circle of red light and relief flooded within Flash's body. There stood Batman with what looked like two bulky gauntlets on his hands. There was a single plate covering his knuckles, emitting a red light. These were definitely different from his usual gauntlets.

"I hope you've had your fun, Superman," the Dark Knight spoke then, flexing his fingers as they contracted and relaxed.

"Because now it's my turn."

* * *

The punch Flash uses is right out of the comics, though the exact issue I honestly can't say. Needless to say, a punch like that could've leveled Superman; too bad he couldn't quite reach that energy output, no?

There's a couple of references here to previous stories as well. I'm sure y'all can pick those out lol.


	9. Under The Red Light

_Oh my God! I'm walking into the light! It's so beautiful! So bright! Hi Elvis!_

The bright light began to fade, thoughts of Heaven fading away as something more droll and grey emerged. _Oh, never mind._ Once the light was gone, it was completely replaced by something right out of Star Trek, just without the bright colors and the gizmos.

 _So this is how the other half lives…_

The Joker glanced around snobbishly. "Wonder what the electric bill is like in this place?" he murmured to himself. One hand behind his back, the other carrying a posh purple briefcase, he began to stroll off the weird pad thing he just happened to be standing on, his polished shoes clicking and clacking on the floor.

Stopping, Joker's eyes flickered from side to side. He took a couple more steps forward, hearing the same clacking. He then stepped back—the same sound. A grin grew on his face.

Slowly, he began to move his feet, repeatedly tapping them on the floor. There was nothing better than a quick tap dance in your enemy's house. A steady beat grew as he danced forward, weaving from side to side as he approached one of the lonely computer stations.

"Oh, I wonder just how many games they have on this," he proclaimed as he grabbed a nearby chair and shoved it up to the station. Stopping his dancing, he plopped his bum into the chair and set his briefcase down next to him on the floor. With one finger, he roughly hit one of the keys, while his other hand reached into his pocket, pulling out a small card. "Now, let's see what my good, hard-earned money bought me," he murmured. Placing a hand over the keyboard, he waiting a moment before his fingers quickly tapped into a set of letters and numbers, ending it with a flourish as he tapped the enter key.

It took a second before the computer screen lit up, revealing a lovely desktop with all sorts of different programs. "Aha!" he exclaimed. "The Boy Scout _does_ have Scout Honor!" Oh, was that a giggle coming on? That was a giggle coming on. "Hee hee hee ha ha haaaa!"

And then he got serious. There was plenty of time to laugh later—it was business time. Getting to work, he began accessing program after program, searching for one in particular. _Oh where, oh where are you? You must be here…_

That was when something shiny caught his attention. "Oh, you goody two-shoes," he said. "You have a team roster and everything." Digging into the file, he was quick to note all of the data he saw, such as ID numbers, communication device transmitters, and...current whereabouts…

"So, their lovely earpieces do so much more. Join the Justice League! Get instant phone chats with boys in blue, GPS tracking of Amazon bimbos, daily attendance roll call with Marvin the Martian!"

Then the pale man frowned. What was this? According to this, six of the transmitters were in Metropolis. But one wasn't. In fact...it was here…

"Computer, computer on my desk, tell me where our absentee is…" he sang, fingers doing their business on the keyboard. It took a moment, but eventually he brought up security camera footage of some hospital room. Something in the top right corner said...med bay. And right in the center of the screen was a man lying in a bed, restrained with leather straps. _Hmm, reminds me of home._

Though, it did make him rather curious and like the cat, he had to know just why the Brigade of Hall Monitors tied down one of their own—hey! He was black! Oh, there was _definite_ racism going on in here! Just wait until he called Al Sharpton! Jesse Jackson! That one guy on MSNBC!

Oh wait, wait, who was he kidding? No one watched that last one. Maybe the hipster crowd since they were into obscure television networks. C'est la vie.

Still, there was still that question. _Hmm, how did one hit rewind?_ Pressing a few keys, Joker eventually found the one he wanted, the time stamp in the corner spinning backwards. Aside from one of the heroes popping in and looking at the black guy, not much happened.

That all changed when suddenly he found mass chaos. Stunned, Joker watched with a critical eye until he realized just what he was seeing. "Oh...oh my…" he spoke breathlessly. It seemed his little joke on Speed Boy had a baby with the black guy and they played House. How marvelous!

But...but...wait...that was the ring guy too. Oh, and he had such plans for him too. Oh well, he just had to be _flexible._

Speaking of which, he had spent too much time admiring his handiwork—another time. Again, Joker immersed himself with gobbledygook, computer numbers, and shortcuts until, that's right, he found the mother of all programs. _This_ is what he came for.

 _Time to get work, Joker, Sir._

* * *

With every step he took, there was a sense of dread welling up within his body. This wasn't a decision made lightly and never should be. Batman was about to take on someone considered the most powerful person on the planet, someone with the strength to crush his head like a melon, heat vision that could melt him from space, and speed that allowed him to do just about anything before the vigilante could move.

Taking Superman down still had to be done.

It was a scenario that had kept Batman up for many nights. As powerful as Superman was, he was still vulnerable in other areas. His mind, for instance, could be corrupted, either by mind control, a drug, or even emotional manipulation. It only took one to turn the Kryptonian into a weapon of mass destruction.

Before him stood the Jokerized-Superman, Flash standing nearby with wide eyes. Red light bathed the two men, nearly removing any other color out of their forms. Flexing and relaxing his fingers over and over until he finally balled them into fists, Batman studied the two, trying to get an idea of what to expect next. Additional red light shined out from orbs emerging from his gauntlets, a large one on the back of his hand and smaller ones decorating each finger.

From his observations of Superman, one of two things were going to happen. He was either going to give him the first punch, or he was going to try punching the vigilante's head off. That was assuming Superman was in his right state of mind, which he wasn't. That opened up countless possibilities and he needed to be ready for all of them.

The Man of Steel bursting out in laughter only set his teeth on edge.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! You have to be kidding! The most worthless guy on the team is going to fight me?" Superman roared, nearly busting a gut as he leaned over, slapping one his hands against his knee. "Ha ha! I knew you were crazy, but this is just insane! For you, I mean. Me, I might as well get a tan from all these lights!"

 _That's right, soak in as much as you like,_ Batman thought. Time was just as much an enemy as this corn-fed farm boy was. Slowly, he moved his gauntlet-covered hand to his belt, pulling out a specialized shuriken. "That's tough talk, especially from a man I've already beaten," he goaded.

That didn't stop Superman's laughter, though he did begin to calm down somewhat. "Don't know what you're talking about, Batty-man, but I'm going to make this simple, quick, and painless."

It was hard through the glare of the light, but Batman caught the sight of the Kryptonian's eyes turning red, blending in with the rest of the tunnel. Instantly, Batman was diving to his right, even as twin beams were fired at him.

However, the heat vision he expect to pass right behind him, was instead directed further to his left and down the tunnel, tearing into a wall. Faster than either man had expected, Flash had dashed in and rammed into Superman, a hand firmly pressed against the dark-haired man's head and forcing it to the side.

That had been an unexpected move on the speedster's part, but it wasn't unwelcomed. This plan would only work if he stayed alive and the dark-clad man was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. As he took another step, his quickly tapped his thumb on the center of his shuriken, activating its inner workings.

Unfortunately, Superman didn't take too kindly to being shoved. Stopping his Heat Vision, he pulled his left arm across his body, bending it at the elbow before jerking it back. It wasn't a powerful blow, but did push Flash off of him; in fact, it sent the red-clad man backwards, his feet skidding across the ground until his back collided with a wall.

Drawing his arm back, Batman then sent his shuriken flying at his foe, the whirling sound immediately catching the Kryptonian's attention as he looked right at the projectile. Again his eyes glowed red as he intended on shooting the bat-shaped shuriken out of the air.

He never got the chance though, as the shuriken suddenly began splintering apart in mid-spin, a flash of bright light exploding out from within the shattering projectile. Superman cried out as his eye soaked in the light, searing them as he was blinded. Eyes squeezing shut, his arms shot up to his face to cover his burning eyeballs.

Immediately, the Dark Knight changed his course, running as fast as he could to his blinded opponent. Drawing a fist back, he sent it flying through the air the moment he was within hitting distance, slamming it against the side of Superman's face. The blow caused him to snap his head to a side, his arms flailing out in front of him even as he took a step to regain his balance.

As monumental of an achievement as that was, Batman could feel his hand throbbing within the gauntlet. It was like punching a steel wall and no amount of precautions—such as the padding and armored-reinforcement of the gauntlet—was going to stop the self-inflicted pain he would feel. That didn't stop Batman in the least as he grabbed the Kryptoninan by his shoulder with one hand and began sending punch after punch into his midsection with the other, each blow knocking the air out of the man's lungs and leaving him breathless and dazed.

With a grunt, Batman ended the pounding with a well-placed uppercut to the Man of Steel's chin, snapping his head back and sending the man flying backwards. He landed on the ground in a heap, his cape slowly floating down on top of him as he laid there.

Letting his arms fall to his side, Batman fought hard not to show the grimace that was trying to work its way onto his face. His arm was loudly protesting what he had just done, not that he blamed it. Even though each punch he landed felt less and less like he was hitting a wall, it was of small comfort at the moment.

Thankfully, Superman took his time laying on the ground, which gave the vigilante valuable time to let his own body recover. With a groan, his foe slowly stirred before he began shifting about, making his way up onto his feet. Batman felt a bubble of satisfaction when he noted Superman was moving slower than usual.

"I...actually...felt that…" the Kryptonian murmured, one of his hands rubbing his face.

"I would hope so," Batman responded, flexing his fingers again before making fists with them. "I'm sure you've noticed the gauntlets on my hands by now. I call them my Red Giants."

Superman's eyes narrowed. "That's a stupid name."

"Perhaps, but it is a fitting name. As you've probably noticed, the orbs on them are emitting a red light; more specifically, it's red sunlight."

Though Superman couldn't see it, the Dark Knight glanced around to the rods around them. The same technology creating the sunlight from his gauntlets were also shining from the rods. This is what he meant when he was fighting a fight with time. It was common knowledge that Superman obtained his power from this solar system's sunlight. So, the vigilante theorized, if the Kryptonian was exposed to a different source of sunlight, he could conceivably lose those powers. Red sunlight just happened to be the easiest spectrum shift he could create.

And so far the theory was holding up. The longer Superman was exposed to the red sunlight, the more his powers would fade and make him mortal. It was a big reason why he had told the Justice League not to crash the Kryptonian through the street. Limiting access to yellow sunlight would only help matters; creating an access point for normal sunlight just defeated the purpose.

So now all he had to do was make sure Superman didn't kill him before the red sunlight completely drained his powers away.

Superman snorted then. "Red, blue, pink, I don't care what you do." He then snorted again for a different reason though. "Heh, pink."

Suddenly, the man launched himself into the air, charging at the Dark Knight. Setting himself into a defensive stance, Batman waited until he saw his foe drawing a fist back, throwing it at the last second.

Ducking, Batman dodged the blow, the fist sailing over his head harmlessly. In response, Batman shot both of his fists up, ramming them both into Superman's stomach. The Kryptonian gasped as his body flinched.

However, his extended arm immediately bent, dropping down on the vigilante's shoulder and causing an explosion of pain to erupt throughout his arm and chest. Crying out, the force of the hit caused Batman to drop to the ground, helpless and dazed.

That's when Superman's leg pulled back and then swung forward, his kick picking the vigilante up off the floor and sent him flipping head over feet through the air. Over and over his world spun from ceiling to floor to ceiling to floor. Unable to do anything, his chaotic flight came to an end when he landed roughly on his stomach on the ground, the air in his lungs being forced out. Gasping, Batman tried to recover from the blows as quickly as possible; unfortunately, he didn't have the same endurance as a Kryptonian, which made it much longer to do.

However, he was able to look up and see he was clearly outside the circle of red sunlight. Superman was still within the circle, but he had landed on the ground, taking his time by walking towards the fallen vigilante. That sickening smile on his face was obvious even from where he lay, which only added to the Dark Knight's fury.

"I could cook me a mean bat stew from here," Superman jested with glee then. "But right now, I think I'd rather put you on ice." He then began sucking in air, his chest expanding out as he held his breath.

 _Get up!_ Batman's mind roared, even though it was a futile effort. Even if he could get on his feet, there was nothing he could hide behind to avoid Superman's Ice Breath.

Fortunately, he didn't have to. Before Superman could blow, multiple rocks suddenly hit him in the side of his body and head, exploding into clouds of dust upon contact. Though they must have felt more like a nuisance than anything, they did enough to stop the Kryptonian as he shot an arm up in an attempt to protect himself, releasing his breath not as a gale, but a gasp of air.

Looking to the source of the rock barrage, Batman spotted Flash moving as a blur. From what he could make out, the red-clad man was grabbing pieces of rock and stone that laid on the ground and was firing them off at the speed of a bullet, if not faster. A cloud of dust was covering the entire upper body of Superman in moments, the man unable to move due to the onslaught.

Unfortunately, there was an immanent problem, mainly there was a slowly vanishing supply of rocks. Grunting, Batman forced himself back onto his feet. By the time he was standing though, Flash was kneeling on the ground, his hands grasping against the smooth floor as he searched for a rock. "Uh oh," he spoke softly, his voice echoing off the walls.

The cloud around Superman dissipated then, revealing a still-smiling Kryptonian. "My turn," he jeered before he charged at the speedster. In response, Flash shot back up to stand, jerking to a side as Superman threw a punch at him.

Back and forth he dodged, seeming to pose with his arms across his chest. "C'mon, Supes, I know you're faster than that," he taunted as he sped from side to side.

Well, that was a welcoming sign. Seeing how Superman was solely focused on hitting Flash, Batman say a big opportunity. Holding his left arm up, he bend it at the elbow so that he could get a good look at his armored-covered forearm. Hitting a button on the gauntlet, the red light from the orbs grew more brighter. Keeping his hand as a fist, he then extended his arm out in front of him, aiming his hand right at the Man of Steel.

A second later, a large red beam fired from his fist, burning through the air until it collided with the side of Superman, knocking him clear off his feet and sending him flying through the air. "Whoa!" Flash cried out as he backed off a step, his head following the length of the beam and ultimately the airborne Kryptonian.

And then the blast cut off, Superman collapsing onto the ground, thankfully still within the red-lit circle, though he was practically at its edge. Slowly, Batman began trudging back to the circle, coming to a stop next to one of the rods. A glance to his left gauntlet revealed the orbs no longer glowed with red sunlight, instead appearing as mere domes of glass, empty and lifeless.

Returning his attention to Superman, the dark-haired man was getting back onto his feet, but even slower than before. No longer was there any humor on his pale face, instead replaced with a frown. "Copy Bat, Copy Bat," he spoke with undisguised disgust. "Let me show you how it's _really_ done."

Once again, Superman's eyes began to glow red, but this time they faded back to their normal hue just as quickly. That didn't deter the man as his face began to twist with strain, his eyes flickering red and back. If anything, it looked as if his Heat Vision was shorting out.

The corner of Batman's mouth twitched up. So that blast of red sunlight robbed the man of his Heat Vision. Terrific.

Raising his left hand up, he placed his palm on top of the rod next to him. Due to a pad on the palm of the gauntlet, it began absorbing the light, the orbs on the gauntlet beginning to light up with light again.

Superman caught sight of this immediately. "So that's why you have these things," he exclaimed before he looked right at a nearby rod. Immediately, he dashed to it, shooting a hand out to grab the rod's head and subsequently the light source. Though he was losing his powers, he hadn't lost all of his strength, slowly crushing the light fixture until it shattered in his hand, effectively destroying it.

"Flash!" Batman barked as he pointed a finger at the Man of Steel. "Stop him!"

Immediately, Flash raced at the man, ramming his left fist into the side of the Kryptonian's face, causing his head to snap to a side as his body followed. As a red blur, Flash shot towards the wall before suddenly spinning around and darting right back towards his foe, punching him again as he made another pass.

Back and forth, the speedster dashed from side to side, always delivering a blow to the side of Superman's head, causing him to jerk in the same direction the red-clad hero was running. In the meantime, Batman took off running, closing the distance between him and the other two heroes.

As Flash made another pass and landed yet another hit, Batman leaped the last few feet, bringing both of his hands up over his head, making fists with them. As gravity began bringing him back down to earth, he swung both fists down, slamming them on top of Superman's head. The blow immediately knocked the man down, causing him to shoot his hands out to catch himself, his palms pressing into the ground.

A shifting of his legs, though, told Batman that Superman was preparing to rush him. Springing off his feet, the Dark Knight leaped over the man, flipping as he did so to land on his feet. Spinning around, he caught sight of Superman diving forward, his arms shooting out in a failed attempt to wrap around the dark-clad man and tackle him.

Flash then reappeared, his red blur rushing up behind the man and ramming his shoulder into his back. Knocked off balance, Superman let out a cry of surprise as he stumbled forward, collapsing onto the floor and sliding over it a short distance.

Again, Superman was slow to get up, even slower than the last. His face was feral-looking, though his mouth was fighting to smile. His frustration was obvious.

However, his head suddenly jerked to aside, his eyes staring right at the approaching blur that was Flash. Crossing an arm over his chest, he swung it out in an attempt to swat the speedster. Expectedly, Flash dodged it easily, twirling around it before he jumped into the air, swinging one of his legs out. His foot landed a solid kick to the side of the Kryptonian's face, knocking him off his feet again and crashing to the floor.

"Hey, that didn't hurt this time!" Flash exclaimed he moment he landed on both feet.

In the meantime, Batman had pulled out another shuriken, this one he spoke into. "Verbal Code: X-1-7-5-R-5, initiate." Pulling his arm back, he then swung it forward, sending the bat-shaped shuriken flying.

As expected, Superman was getting back onto his feet. However, he immediately noticed the incoming shuriken and jerked to a side, the projectile flying by his head harmlessly. Turning his attention to the Dark Knight, he growled, "I've just about had enough of you."

Unbeknownst to him, the shuriken wasn't finished with its flight. Several feet behind him, the shuriken slowed down, making a u-turn, and flew right back at the Kryptonian. Due to the bulky gauntlets he wore, Batman was unable to enter the activation code into the shuriken like he normally would, thus the verbal command: one target, seven feet away, five additional feet, return five.

And just as he expected, the shuriken plowed into the back of Superman's head, knocking him forward as he cried out in surprise and pain. Immediately Batman ran at him, drawing a fist back. The moment he was within hitting distance, he swung his fist, slamming his punch down on the back of Superman's head and dropping him back onto the ground.

Backing off a step, Batman then raised a foot up, letting it hover for a moment before he dropped it down right on the back of Superman's skull. There was a flinching of the Man of Steel's body, but Batman didn't miss the fact that the man had gone limp.

The only sound that was made then was the Dark Knight taking and releasing a deep breath. At long last the fight was over, or so he hoped. Just to make sure, he knelt down next to Superman, pushing his body to a side.

"Is he out?" Flash suddenly asked him, appearing next to the men.

Looking up to him, Batman responded, "Check his pulse."

Obeying, Flash also took a knee next to their comrade, pressing two of his fingers against Superman's neck in search of his carotid artery. After a moment, he announced, "I've got it. Going on strong."

 _Good._ The vigilante refrained from sighing out loud. One was enough for the time being. Eyes looking down at Superman, he soon found his attention moving down to the purple rock that hung from the neck. Frowning, he leaned his head down and forward to get a better look. "Flash, how long has Superman been wearing this?" he asked.

Flash leaned forward to get a better look. "I think he had it when we first ran into him. Can't really say for sure since the others got into a fight with him before I got there."

Pushing Superman completely onto his back, Batman then reached up and began removing one of his gauntlets. The sound of pressurized air hissing was made and he slid the gauntlet off, placing it on the floor. With his uncovered hand, he reached to the purple rock and with a sharp tug snapped the necklace cord.

Holding the rock up, Batman stared at its glowing light, dimmed by the multiple red sunlamps around them. A sickening feeling settled in his stomach the longer he looked at it. "I'll examine this when we get back to HQ," he spoke out loud as he moved to shove the stone in one of his pouches.

Flash didn't seem concerned about the stone though. "So where did you get those big glove things? Not going to lie, but I was hoping for some giant, robot suit, or something."

Glancing to the speedster, the vigilante debated whether to answer before he decided to tell the truth. "These are part of a suit I kept in a storage center. The suit itself is too heavy though, and I felt I needed more speed over defense; that's why I only wore the gauntlets."

"Make sense I guess." Then a thought struck the red-clad man. "Wait, you kept this thing _in_ Metropolis?!"

"Where else was I supposed to keep it?"

"I don't know, Gotham? In that cave of yours? Just imagine if Big Blue actually found this before our fight!"

 _You make it sound like I only have one._ Batman refrained from saying that out loud. Some things were best left unsaid. In fact, he had multiple containers throughout the country, each one with a different countermeasure. While a majority were in the cave, the vigilante had felt that he couldn't keep everything in one place. If the League ever went rogue, it would be best to have other countermeasures in different facilities.

"Wait, is there one in Central City? Like, one that has something to stop me?" Flash pressed then.

"If I answer, is that going to stop you from looking anyways?" Batman answered.

For once the speedster was speechless, his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. It really was a sight to behold.

In all honesty, the Dark Knight hadn't stopped making countermeasures. Though his original ones were made with dubious intentions, it didn't mean they weren't necessary. Superman attacking Metropolis was proof enough of that. Telling the others, however, would be a bad decision. Again, if they ever went rogue, one of the first things they would do is remove any threat, or obstacle to their rule and a man who held plans to defeat each and every one of them was just such an obstacle. He might as well put a target on his back and let them come kill him.

After all, what was the use of a countermeasure if you were unable to use it?

Grabbing his gauntlet and standing up, Batman began to walk a short distance away from the other Leaguers, feeling that their conversation had come to an effective end. Reaching up to his cowl, he activated his League comm link and spoke, "This is Batman, Superman has been neutralized. I repeat, Superman is neutralized. All points report to my location."

Upon receiving affirmatives from Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl—though curiously not from J'onn, he continued walking down the tunnel.

"Hey, where are you going?" Flash called after him.

Turning his head to a side so that he could answer over his shoulder, he responded, "Just checking on a guest."

A most likely irate, reporter guest at that.

* * *

To Guest: These are heroes that are used to handling their own fights. Out of all of them, Batman is the most vulnerable, so they're not going to actively put him on the front lines, or even use his contingency plan right off the bat. Though you are right they should've brought some sort of kryptonite weapon. They didn't really think this fighting thing through lol.

The Red Giants, as Batman so affectionately calls them, are based off of the ones in the Endgame story line of the New 52. They looked awesome when they were first shown, though of course Batman stupidly knocks Superman out into sunlight the moment he uses them. So much for that fabled tactical genius, eh? I was debating on whether to put Batman in a mechanized suit, or not, and with everything I wanted to do in the fight required a more mobile fighter, the suit had to be scrapped. I do rather like how the fight came out.


	10. Here's Your Grand Prize!

Diana laid Superman's prone body on the med bay bed, not looking the least bit strained by the endeavor. Aside from the bruises she obtained from the fight, she looked more like she had been cleaning up a disaster zone rather than making one.

With the hit of a button, titanium restraints emerged out of the bed, wrapping around the Kryptonian's wrists, legs, and chest, making a locking sound as the ends pressed down onto the bed.

Picking up an airgun, Batman loaded it with a dose of the Joker Venom antidote. Though he wasn't positive that Superman been exposed to the toxin, he wasn't going to take any chances. Approaching the restrained hero, he pressed the end of the airgun against his shoulder and squeezed the trigger, injecting the antidote right into his body. Because of the exposure to the red sunlight, the Man of Steel's body didn't reject the antitoxin immediately, allowing it to pass through the normally impenetrable skin. It also helped that they made sure to expose as little yellow sunlight to the man as possible on their return to the Justice League Headquarters.

Teleporting out of the Metropolis subway tunnels did just the trick.

Moving away from the the unconscious man, Batman headed to a nearby computer terminal and activated it. There were a few things that still needed to be done, such as establishing Superman's current vital signs, a tox-screen, and a host of other medication procedures, if only to determine how Kryptonian physiology responded to an Earth-made toxin.

"How could this have happened?" Diana spoke up then, her voice sounding shaky.

Pausing what he was doing, the vigilante glanced towards her. It was apparent she wanted to talk, vent even. He just needed to let her go at her own pace.

"I should have stayed with him," she continued. "Instead we talked ourselves into splitting up. If I hadn't left, this wouldn't have happened."

She was right about that. Batman was fully aware how the rest of the League viewed the Joker's threat. This wasn't a man that could destroy a planet, or conquer one, or represented all the other galactic threats they were used to dealing with. He was just a man, nothing more. What chance did he stand at taking on people with superpowers?

They had underestimated him and it was biting them hard. The physical damage that had been done was equal to the mental damage, if not overwhelmed by the latter. Turning an entire populous against its protector, then using another hero to destroy the city he protected, it was an angle none of these heroes had encountered before.

But Batman had.

He had played this game before, had been consumed by it. There was no limit to the depths the Joker would sink to make his point, assuming he had one. There was definitely a goal in mind, but that was still as mysterious as what the madman's next move would be. In fact, the dark-clad man had no doubt the Joker wanted the League to be second-guessing itself right now, a slight-of-hand trick that blinded them to his next move.

"What's done is done," he spoke up then, earning him the attention of the Amazon Princess. "We can't change what happened, but we can learn from it. No one is by themselves until this ends."

Diana nodded her acceptance. "You told us to do that from the beginning though."

"And now we know better."

That seemed to pacify the woman for the time being, turning her attention to gaze upon Superman. It was several moments before she asked, "What is the point of all this? Why did he make Superman attack Metropolis?"

"You're assuming there was a reason beyond the obvious property damage."

"Isn't that what he's all about, though? There's always an ulterior motive behind his actions?"

If the situation were less somber than what it was, Batman would've smiled. _So they can learn. Promising, indeed._ Right now that gesture was uncalled for in light of what was going on. "The Joker's actions are less about whom he does them to and more about those that will be affected by it. In this case, us. The people of Metropolis will be affected by this naturally, but their reactions are in the long-term."

"So this is a message to us. Do you know what it is?"

Batman fell silent. He could come up with some educated guesses, but it was likely none of what he thought up would be correct. The only one who knew for certain was the Joker and he would only reveal it when he was ready. It was too early for that though, so he doubted the insane clown would be forthcoming.

Diana needed to be told something though. At least, she needed something she could grasp onto aside from "Just because." That had been the Joker's original reason for burning down a third of Gotham those many years ago.

"Central City, he wanted to tell us no one was safe," he began to explain. "With Metropolis, no one is safe from us—or that we were the ones that weren't safe. Everyone is a target and he will get to them no matter what we do."

"Is that what happened the first time you fought him?" Diana inquired. The sound of her footsteps approached him until she came to stand next to him.

"Not exactly."

The Amazon was quiet for a second before she continued, "Perhaps you should recount what happened. If this man is a creature of habit, perhaps we can better guess his next move."

That wasn't a bad idea actually. Still, the Dark Knight had to compose himself as he recounted that two-week period. "His first attack was to announce his introduction. He wanted the entire city to know of him."

"Similar to his attack on Central City, no?"

That was one way to look at it. In fact, what better way to announce to the whole world your presence than by poisoning an entire city with a toxin you were infamous for? Perhaps Diana was onto something here. "His next attack was on City Hall where he unleashed his Joker Venom for the first time."

"So then he revealed his arsenal," the dark-haired woman murmured out loud, more to herself than to him. "What would he have revealed this time?"

 _Obviously something that could infect Kryptonians._ That was Batman's first thought before he unconsciously raised a hand to his belt, the one that contained the unknown purple stone he had pulled off of Superman following their battle. He had yet to analyze it, which was something he needed to do.

"Did you notice the purple stone Superman was wearing when you fought?" he questioned the Amazon.

That caused her to perk her head up. "Now that you mention it, yes, I do. Do you think there's some significance?"

"Absolutely." He patted the pouch, which caused Diana to focus her attention there. Upon seeing her questioning look, he merely nodded that he did have the stone on her person. "Once we have Superman hooked up here, I'll be going to the lab to determine what it is."

That spurred the Amazon into action. Next to the computer console Batman stood in front of was a small table with various leads and sensors. Picking them up, Diana carried them to Superman's bed and began placing them on his body. One by one, numbers began appearing on the screen in front of the vigilante, readings including his oxygen levels, heart rate, electrical activity, and even blood pressure.

"So what happened next?" Diana then prodded.

That made Batman scowl. "The Joker announced he was sending a bomb full of Joker Venom into the streets of Gotham. As it turned out—"

"They were duds," she finished for him, causing him to look away from the computer monitor to stare at her. "I recall your video logs and that event was one we viewed," she explained.

He nodded his acknowledgement of her statement, resisting the sickening feeling he felt in his stomach. It still caused him no end of grief that there had been uninvited guests in his private base, never mind that it had been the most ideal, if not best place for the heroes to go to following their first encounter. "The Joker wanted everyone to know that no matter what we did, he was in full control of our every action. If he said jump, we did so."

"So we're looking for a distraction." That caused a thoughtful expression to appear on Diana's face. "I wonder what that will—"

Suddenly, a sharp beeping sound erupted from the computer, causing Batman to jerk his attention back to it. Fingers tapping on the keyboard in a heated frenzy, he minimized the program monitoring Superman's vitals while activating the security program. A moment later and a grid for the Justice League HQ appeared on screen. A blueprint for the entire complex was visible, yet it was swept aside, moving to somewhere outside. Right at the fence line surrounding the complex, a red dot blinked over and over.

They had a breach.

"Diana!" he shouted as he spun around, only to see the Amazon had taken flight towards the door. Her boots were the last thing he saw of her as she passed through the threshold.

Giving chase, his cape billowing behind him, Batman raced through the door and down the hall. No matter how fast he could go, there was no way he could keep up with the Princess, who was disappearing right around a corner at the end of the corridor. While he could've called an order for her to slow down, he doubted she would heed his words. Hopefully whatever threat was at their doorstep was something she could keep at bay until he arrived.

Then again, if a trained Amazon couldn't stop whatever this was, what was he going to be able to do?

* * *

They were scattered all over the room, pieces of ice with green matter within them. Shayera refused to refer to them as pieces of J'onn, even if that was what they were. It still sickened her to have to pick them up.

Following the end of the fight, Batman had assigned her and Flash to gather up as much of the Martian as possible. The vigilante was operating under the theory that J'onn could be restored somehow, something that Flash readily took too—and if she was honest, herself as well.

She still couldn't get that punch out of her mind though. J'onn frozen in place, Superman winding up, then in slow motion throwing the devastating blow. It played over and over in her head, fantasies of somehow being fast enough to stop it popping in every once in awhile. She would cast those thoughts aside though, for as much as she liked to entertained them, she was a realist at heart—there was no way she could have prevented what happened.

That didn't meant she didn't like to pretend otherwise.

A red blur dashed from one side of the room to the other even as she knelled down to collect another ice chunk. Between the two of them, they had a system going. Shayera was in charge of collecting the bigger pieces while Flash went for the smaller ones. It wasn't a matter of strength so much as that Flash could find and gather the harder-to-find shards faster than she could. With him working on tweezer-detail, she could focus on picking up the more obvious ones.

Finding that she had an armful, the winged woman began trudging over to a large garbage bin. They had moved it from its place outside of the building, using it as a crude collection bin. Reaching it, the Thanagarian poured her pieces in, hearing them clatter against each other and the other chunks that had been previously gathered.

That was when Flash darted by, a handful of shards being deposited in as well. Numbly, Shayara stared into the container, wonder if they had gathered each and every piece. Her shoulders sagged mostly out of feeling energy-less. She may have seen a lot of bad shit in her life, but this was definitely taking a toll on her.

A rush of wind caressed her body then, causing her hair to whip to one side. That was followed by a comforting hand being pressed on her shoulder, to which she placed her own hand on top of. "Not feeling too well, huh?" Flash said.

"Yeah, something like that," she acknowledged his words. "Do you think we have everything?"

"Just a second." Flash's hand disappeared, leaving her feeling empty for some odd reason. It couldn't have been more than a few seconds before the speedster return, standing on her opposite side this time. Holding his hands out over the garbage can, he dropped in a handful of ice, dusting them off a moment later. "That's the last of it," he declared before dropping his hands to his sides.

"About time." Reaching a hand up, she activated her comm link and said, "We're done. Beam us back anytime."

As she dropped her hand from her ear, Flash suddenly remarked, "You don't look too good, Wings."

"Not sure how anyone could," she muttered under her breath.

Clearly the red-clad man heard her as he responded, "Just remember who's really behind this. Superman couldn't help himself."

Shayera knew what the young man was trying to do. Rationally he was right. Unfortunately she was in a more emotional, irrational frame of mind and those words didn't little to comfort her. "Tell that to J'onn," she practically spat back.

Flash, bless the man, took her anger and let it flow right by him. "We're all angry about this. And Supes is going to carry this around his neck for the next hundred years, or however long he's going to live."

"As he should!" Shayera spun around, scowling at Flash harshly. "I don't know what led to him getting Jokerized, but I have no doubt it happened because he was on his own— _against orders._ We had agreed to pairs and what does he do the moment his teammate runs off? Runs headfirst into a damn trap!"

"It's not the first time any of us has made a mistake," the speedster pointed out, "and it won't be the last. The important thing is that we nab this maniac and make sure he pays for his crimes."

 _Whatever._ The redhead didn't have it in her to argue. Yeah, the Joker was ultimately responsible for what was happening, but this guy needed a lot of luck and help to be pulling off what he was doing. Superman had just given him the mother of all lucky moments by stumbling in unprepared and letting himself get gassed, or whatever it was that turned him into a walking, laughing wrecking ball.

 _"If there's one person we can trust to be on their own, it's him."_

Those had been her words before the attack on Metropolis. Lord, how foolish did she feel now for uttering that statement. Shayera swallowed hard on the bile gathering at the back of her throat. It wasn't often that she underestimated a foe, but looking at the devastation around her she could see just how wrong she had been. Oh sure, yeah, the most powerful man in the world should have no problem with a certifiable whack-job. On paper, it was obvious who should have won that encounter. The reality was so much more different.

Batman had been right to caution them as he had. Why hadn't she listened better? What hadn't Superman heeded his words? They were supposed to be the Justice League, which meant they were above making such boneheaded decisions. Otherwise people got hurt.

Just like J'onn.

Luckily, Flash didn't try to convince or comfort her anymore. For a guy that was happy-go-lucky most of the time, he knew when and what to say in times like this. Unfortunately, that left the winged woman to seethe internally instead of venting, so her last words coupled with the image of a shattering J'onn were going over and over on an endless loop. This did nothing for her temper, which was growing more and more heated with every passing second.

"What the hell is taking them so long?" she growled as she crossed her arms over her chest, one of her feet tapping impatiently. They should've been teleported a long time ago.

Flash only looked at her before he began to raise a hand to activate his comm link. Shayera beat him to it when she uncrossed one of her arms and roughly jabbed at the device in her ear. "Hey, what's the holdup?" she demanded. "We're ready to go over here."

There wasn't a response, not that wasn't unusual, especially since half of their forces were indisposed of at the moment. Yet, she knew for a fact there were still two able-bodied people there unless…

Something was wrong. Glancing to Flash, she could see he was coming to the same conclusion as she was. Quickly, she spoke into her comm link again. "This is Hawkgirl, come in, HQ. Is there a situation?"

Again, silence. Now she knew something was up. In fact, she was half a second away from ordering Flash to get over there when she heard static in her ear. That was followed by Batman's voice coming through the device.

" _This is HQ. Stay where you're at; I repeat, stay at your present location."_

"What's going on?" the Thanagarian immediately demanded.

It took a moment for the vigilante to respond. " _There's been a breach at the outer perimeter. Until it's been identified and dealt with you are not to come to HQ. Understood?"_

Shayera couldn't fault the logic there and found herself nodding despite there was no way Batman could see her do so. "Understood," she finally replied. "Hawkgirl, out."

Returning her eyes to Flash, she could tell he had been privy to the conversation. "Looks like we're stuck here for the time being."

* * *

Arms pumping at his sides, Batman raced through the halls. A part of him was wondering whose bright idea it was to build so many of them inside of a single building, but then the tactical side of him piped in to remark how useful they would be if an invading force entered. Regardless, it made for a long run that he had not been expecting to have.

Eventually, he found the front entrance, the double doors wide open. Exploding through the doorway, the dark-clad man glanced around, seeing no sign of danger or Diana. There were no signs of battle either, which only fueled his concern.

Considering the monitor had identified the potential threat to be at the west-side perimeter, that's where Batman headed first. If Diana had arrived soon after the incursion, she could have settled the fight before he even left the building, which meant that was the most likely place to find her. Running as fast as he could, he shot around the corner and slowed his pace up.

He could see Diana from he was at, standing up straight and near a fence. Her guard was up, but she didn't look as if she were expecting an attack. Instead her head was tilted downward, indicating she was looking at something.

Jogging now, Batman kept his current pace until he was within shouting distance of the Amazon. "Diana, did you find something?" he asked as he slowed into a walk.

The dark-haired woman didn't even look to him as she answered, "I believe so." Coming up next to her, the vigilante finally stopped and looked down at what captivated the woman's attention.

Lying on the ground next to the fence was a bulky, purple briefcase. It clearly stood out against the iron fence, maintained grass, and a few short shrubberies. Someone had carefully set it here for them to find.

"Do you hear anything?" Batman asked, keeping his eyes trained on the case.

Diana didn't reply immediately, which meant she was focusing on her hearing. "No," she finally answered, "nothing."

Eyeing the lock, even from where he stood he could tell the only thing keeping the briefcase shut were two clasps on either side of the handle. No dial lock, key lock, or any other lock he was familiar with was visible. Further observation of the briefcase and the surrounding area showed no discernible booby traps either. It was as if the case wanted to be opened.

All the more reason it was a trap.

Unfortunately, they couldn't just stand there and wait—mostly because the briefcase wouldn't let them. Unexpectedly, the two clasps clicked open, causing both Batman and Diana to jump, immediately going shifting into defensive stances. Moving with a will of its own, the lid began to open at a crawling speed, slowly revealing its innards.

Most of the briefcase's insides was covered with a metal box, a slot in the middle of the box showing three spinning columns. It was like watching a slot machine in action. The rest of the case was filled with a random assortment of wires twisting and coiling around each other. There was no telling where one wire ended and the others began.

That was when one of the columns stopped spinning, revealing the face of a joker card. Soon after, the second column stopped, the same image showing itself, followed shortly by the third. A loud, obnoxious jingle rang out, followed a recorded voice declaring, " _You've won! You've won! Here's your grand prize! You've won! You've won! Here's your grand prize!"_

"What is this?" Diana questioned after a stunned silence.

" _You've won! You've won! Here's your grand prize!"_

The vigilante had no idea either. There was no doubt who had set it there, but the motive for doing so escaped him.

" _You've won! You've won! Here's your grand prize!"_

Batman felt the vibration first. It went right through his feet and up his legs, the tremor so strong that he was thrown off balance. Head twisting around, he was just in time to see the middle of the Justice League headquarters erupt with flames, spreading out towards the ends of the building itself. A loud _BOOM_ followed by a thunderous roar rang out, the force of the blast slamming into the Leaguers and throwing them off their feet. Batman was sure he cried out, but it was completely drowned out by the explosion.

He was faintly aware of Diana also being blown away as well, but that observation left his mind the moment his back slammed into the iron fence, the section of the fence ripping out and collapsing to the ground. Because of this, the vigilante found himself flipping wildly through the air. With the world spinning, he was unable to orient himself until he landed hard on the ground, skidding across grass, dirt, and leaves. The air in his lungs was forced out, leaving him breathless.

As if to add insult to injury, something rammed into him in his weakened state, causing the vigilante's eyes to widen as he frantically gasped for air. Breathing rapidly, it took him awhile to realize a body had landed on top of him, Diana's to be specific. And like him, she was breathing heavily.

Having managed to calm down his oxygen-starved mind, Batman laid his head on the ground, squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to recover. It took awhile, but eventually his respirations began to slow until he was just a man lying on dirt and grass with a woman on top of him.

"Oh, Hera," he heard Diana gasp then, her body roughly moving on top of him as she scrambled to get off. "Superman! John!" she cried out.

Batman knew exactly what was going to happen before it did, which was the biggest reason why he managed to fling his upper body up in time for him to grab onto the Amazon. "Don't!" he barked at her, even as she lifted both of them into the air as he tried to prevent her from charging head first into a...a…

That's when he saw it. Where the Justice League headquarters used to be was nothing more than a raging fire, a colossal cloud of black smoke rising high into the air. He could just barely make out parts of the foundation and outer wall, but they were well on their way into being rubble at this point.

The dark-clad man's attention was soon torn away from the sight when he felt Diana struggling against his grip, damn near pulling away on the first lunge. Gritting his teeth, Batman forced himself to readjust his grip, even as the Amazon drew closer to the blaze.

"Get off of me!" Diana roared as she continued to struggle against him, one of her hands grabbing onto his forearm and began to peel it off of her body. It happened so easily and smoothly that it took Batman a moment realize he only had one arm wrapping over the dark-haired woman's shoulder, the only reason he didn't drop to the ground immediately. Damn it, he hadn't countered on her super strength to show itself, though he should have been. "I have to go help them!" she continue to rage.

"There's nothing you can do," the Dark Knight hissed into her ear, as he wormed his arm out of her grip. With Superman's weakened body and the Green Lantern unconscious and unable to use his ring, there was no way they could have survived that explosion. "If you go in there, you'll only expose yourself to any other traps that are still there."

"You don't know that! You don't!" Diana spat back and bent her arm at the elbow, jerking backwards and into his chest. Pain throbbed at the point of impact, but the vigilante refused to let go. "I have to try!"

This wasn't something Batman wanted to do, but right now he had an irrational Amazon hellbent on putting herself at risk. Shooting his free hand up, he jabbed two of his fingers into her neck, striking a pressure point.

The effect was instantaneous. One moment Diana was hovering in the air, full of power and pride, the next to crumpled against him, causing the two to drop to the ground like stones. Unlike their previous landing, it was Batman who crashed on top of Diana, laying on her back and using his weight to hold her limp body down. Confusion wrote itself all over her face.

Breathing hard, Batman just laid there, burying his face into the Amazon's hair, strands of it tickling his lips, cheeks and nose as it fluttered with his breaths. "Wha...did you...do ta meee?" she slurred after several moments.

"Stopping you from making a big mistake," the Dark Knight summarized, lifting his head up so that she could hear his every word. "I know you're hurting right now; your friends were in there; but now is not the time to be charging in half-cocked. We need to regroup, get organized, and find the son of a bitch that did this and the only way we can do that is if we have you with us."

Slowly, Batman rolled off the Amazon Princess, lying on his back on the ground next to her. The fact that she wasn't unconscious was a testament to her will—or stubbornness depending on your point of view. Regardless, her body wouldn't be able to move for awhile and hopefully the dark-haired woman would have enough time to calm herself before she recovered all of her abilities.

Along with any forgiveness she may have towards him.

Positive that she wouldn't be getting back up for the time being, Batman stretched his head up as he returned his attention to the burning remains of the JLHQ, staring at it upside down. It was going to take some time for the blaze to die down before he could perform an adequate investigation. It also meant the Justice League was without a home, something they couldn't afford at the moment.

That was when he heard a sound. It was low, mechanical in tone, repeating itself constantly. Tilting his head down and pushing his upper body up for a better look, the vigilante spotted what was left of the briefcase, the lid having been forcefully removed during the explosion, not to mention the case itself being tossed through the air, miraculously landing close to where the two Leaguers were. It was from the case that sound was coming from.

" _Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…"_


	11. The Cave

What remained of the Justice League headquarters was ruins. Piles of rubble were scattered about, an occasional flame still burning and sending a faint cloud of smoke up into the air. Aside from the crackling of the fires, everything was silent, the air still.

The sound of stone and gravel crunching beneath a pair of boots broke the silence. Moving around one of the piles of concrete debris, Batman made his way through the carnage. He never let his guard drop, his eyes constantly on the lookout for any surviving traps that may have been left behind. The longer he transversed the uneven ground though, the more the dark-clad man was coming to the conclusion that even if a trap had been left in wait, it had been destroyed in the explosion. Still, he was a cautious man and he would be damned if he let hubris let him walk right into something avoidable.

It took awhile, but eventually the vigilante found where the Monitor Room approximately was. Scanning around, he searched the area, seeing the same sight as the rest of the ruins. There was a piece of a steel door lying on the side of one of the piles of rubble, along with an occasional piece of metal, but otherwise it was the exact same thing.

That was disappointing.

The sound of a rock clattering against stone caught his attention then. Jerking his head to a side, he caught sight of Diana approaching him. When the site had been deemed safe, the Amazon had taken off towards the med bay's location in an attempt to confirm the status of Superman and Green Lantern. Her red eyes and the lack of any remains told the vigilante she had been unsuccessful in her endeavor.

"There wasn't any sign of them," she spoke weakly, her arms wrapping around herself in an attempt at comfort. She slowed to a stop next to Batman, her tear-stained face staring right at him. "No bodies, not even a piece of their uniform."

Which meant they were likely incinerated in the explosion. Batman withheld the scowl he could feel working itself onto his face. Right now he needed to be strong for his comrade, who had taken a severe emotional blow. She hadn't been happy when he had paralyzed her earlier and he doubt she was going to let that go without repercussion. Fortunately she realized there was a time and place for such matters and now wasn't the time.

"Think you can shift some of this debris?" he asked her then, raising his hand to indicate the rubble with the steel door lying on it.

Diana nodded her affirmation before she strode past him, arms dropping to her sides. Once she was by the debris, she picked up the steel door and pulled it up, setting it aside without so much as breaking a sweat. All the while, Batman watched as she began moving the bigger pieces out of her way.

Fortunately it didn't take her long to find something. "I see something," she announced, causing the Dark Knight to quickly move to her side. What was best described as a black cube was lying amidst the rubble, something Batman was happy to see. Stepping towards it, he knelt down and did his best to remove it, successfully pulling it out.

"What is that?" Diana asked curiously.

"A black box," Batman answered her, turning it about in his hands as he searched for any damage to it, happy to find none. "Standard security feature, we can find out what exactly happened that lead up to the JL headquarters blowing up."

"I see." There was a moment's pause. Then, "I...need to thank you—for what you did earlier."

The vigilante's head perked up. He had been expecting some sort of reprimand, if not a flat out demand for reparation. This was...different.

When he didn't reply, the Amazon Princess continued undeterred, "I wasn't thinking earlier when the explosion occurred. If you hadn't done what you had, I would have been injured as well. For that I thank you."

"Your welcome," Batman found himself saying.

A small, grim smile appeared on Diana's face, but neither one of them said anything else. There really wasn't much to add on that subject to be frank. In fact, they probably would've continued that awkward silence had their comm links not gone off.

" _Hey, this is Hawkgirl. Mind tell us what's going on over there?"_

Damn, he had almost forgotten about the other Leaguers. As much as they deserved to hear what had happened, Batman was not going to respond until he had a course of action for them to take. With the League's headquarters gone, they had to go somewhere else to regroup, somewhere the Joker wouldn't be able to find. Unfortunately, with the remaining Leaguers, that limited where they could go.

As far as he knew, none of the others had a base of operations outside of the League. Superman allegedly had a fortress, but the dark-clad man highly doubted they could obtain entry to it without the Kryptonian. J'onn might have a place considering his multitude of identities, but with the Martian otherwise indisposed of at the moment, that crossed those options off. The others surely had residences, but that put people at risk if they weren't already, not to mention any issues with secret identities.

And that left Batman with only one option he could think of and it was one he thoroughly did not like. There wasn't much choice in the matter though.

Apparently Diana had been watching him closely during his inner musings. "You have a plan, don't you?" she prodded him, a twinkle appearing in her eye. For some reason he didn't mind that she was able to read him so easily like that.

"It's not a good one, but it's the only one we can use," he told her before he raised a hand up to his cowl. "Batman to Hawkgirl."

" _About damn time you answered,"_ the Thanagarian responded, her irritation evident in her voice. " _What's the deal?"_

Well, there really wasn't any good way to say this, so Batman opted to say it bluntly. "HQ has been destroyed; I repeat, the JL headquarters has been destroyed."

There was a long silence after that before Hawkgirl replied, her tone slightly shaken. " _Did I hear that wrong? HQ is gone?"_

"That's right. The entire building is still smoldering. Wonder Woman and I are alright, relatively, but Superman and Green Lantern were caught up in the blast." He paused as he found it hard to swallow at that moment. Immediately, Diana rested a hand on his shoulder, a display of comfort. "We need to regroup," he continued, looking the Amazon in her eyes. "Meet us at the Cave outside of Gotham."

Pausing so that he could receive confirmation, his wait was short as Flash suddenly spoke up, " _You want us to meet up at the Batcave? For reals?"_

Batman rolled his eyes. Why was it everyone put the word bat in front of everything when it came to him? Batcave, Batmobile, Batarangs—the list went on. As annoying as that was, at least he knew the others knew where to go. "Yes," he confirmed. "Get there ASAP and make sure you aren't followed. If you discover a tail, lose them and find a safe place to hole up in. I'll make contact with you at the top of the hour, every hour. We can't afford to be careless anymore."

" _Roger that,"_ Hawkgirl replied. " _See you there."_

The moment Batman dropped his hand to his side, Diana was immediately talking to him. "This is most unexpected. Our situation must be grim for you to invite us to your base."

"I'm not seeing a whole lot of other options," Batman retorted. "If you have a better idea, let me know."

"Unfortunately, I don't." The Amazon closed the distance between them, wrapping an arm around his waist, the vigilante instinctively placing one of his on her shoulders. "I believe I will be our transportation."

Before he could reply, Diana had already launched them up into the air, leaving the remains of the League HQ behind them. They began to pick up speed as they rose higher and higher, Diana purposefully taking them up above the clouds, if only to reduce their visibility to any watchful eyes. Batman was going to have to rely on her senses to detect any tails they may have considering her eyesight and hearing were much better than his.

Gripping the black box tighter and pressing it against his torso, the dark-clad man settled in for a long flight.

* * *

As expected, the flight did take awhile. That was to be expected since Rhode Island was a long ways away from Gotham. Diana knew the way though, even to one of the entrances to the cave beneath Wayne Manor. Batman had to remind himself that she had this knowledge despite the fact it rankled ever fiber of his being.

Though he hated the idea that someone knew the exact location of his base, it had the benefit of not having to give exact directions to the Amazon nor the other Leaguers. There was no telling if there was an unwelcome listener on the line. No doubt Hawkgirl and Flash were on their way as well.

Following along the coast, they eventually found the cliff that was home to Wayne Manor. Below that was a cave entrance, which they entered. The cool air of the tunnel assaulted them even as Diana flew them through it until they reached the main cave. The lights were on, thankfully, so all Diana had to do was take them over to one of the platforms.

As it so happened, she landed them by the supercomputer. The moment they touched down, Batman released his hold on the dark-haired woman, even though she was slower to do so herself. This caused her arm to drag across his body as he moved towards the computer, something he found hard to ignore.

Reaching his chair, he moved passed it as he set the black box down on the console. Grabbing cables, he began connecting the black box to the computer mainframe, making sure all necessary cable heads were plugged into the ports. Once he was satisfied, he took a seat in his chair and tapped a few keys on the keyboard to activate a program to download the box's data. In response, a window appeared on screen, showing a rapidly crawl of numbers and letters as the data was read.

That was when Diana joined him by the supercomputer, standing next to his chair as she stared up at the screen. "What are you hoping to find?" she inquired.

"Hopefully there's a lead we can use to determine when and how HQ blew up," the vigilante responded as he took watched the monitor. "No way was this accidental."

She nodded her agreement. "How long will this take?'

"Awhile, unfortunately. I'm downloading everything the black box collected since it was activated, so we're talking about a few years of data."

"Any possible theories you may have?" she pressed.

Batman shook his head. There was still too much unknown for him to make an educated guess. Until he had a better idea of the HQ's lasts moments, he wasn't going to make any assumptions, even though considering what was going on it was more than likely some foul play was involved. He could practically sense the Joker had something to do with it, but until he was fully certain he wasn't going to reveal anything.

Unfortunately, it seemed the Amazon was more than willing to express her thoughts, no matter how similar they were to his. "The Joker was behind this, wasn't he? His history of bombings points right at him."

 _Him and any arsonists, bomber, and persons infatuated with gunpowder._ Unfortunately that was a rather long list of potential suspects. However, Diana still had good reasoning to reach her conclusion, one he had already considered. "You're right in that he does. But that still leaves the question of how he did this if that is indeed the case."

Diana let out an aggrieved sigh, squeezing her eyes shut in frustration. "I am growing sick of this man."

 _You and everyone else._ Not bothering to vocalize that thought, Batman returned his attention to the computer—or at least that's what he intended on doing had he not noticed movement from the corner of his eye. Pausing slightly, he carefully tilted his head to a side, waiting for another sign of movement. Several moments passed before he came to the conclusion he wasn't going see any more indications, visually anyways. His senses were already telling him there was someone else in the cave, if the feeling of watching eyes were anything to go by. Diana missed all of this due to her closed eyes and overwhelming frustration—perhaps for the best.

Of course, that's when the other guests arrived.

A burst of wind blew over the two Leaguers as Flash skidded to a stop, kicking up a small cloud of dust. "Hey, Bats! Wondy!" the speedster greeted them. "I was wondering if you'd beat us here, or not."

Turning around in his chair, Batman gazed at Flash, Diana turning to face him as well. "Where's Hawkgirl?" he immediately demanded.

"Somewhere in the tunnel," the younger man answered. "We stayed with each other until we reached the entrance and I went on ahead there. You'll have to excuse her for being slow though, since she is lugging J'onn's leftovers."

"That's because a certain idiot isn't strong enough to move him," a voice shouted throughout the cave, causing it to bounce off the walls as an echo. That was followed by an increased chirping from the bats on the ceiling, disturbed by the voice.

That was when the Thanagarian appeared swooping down as a large bag hung from her hands beneath her. She placed the sack down first before she maneuvered to land right next to it. One of her hands went to her hip, her gaze sharpening onto the Dark Knight. "I think it's time we talked," she declared resolutely.

"That's right," Flash agreed, his tone serious as he took a step closer.

Then, he pointed a finger in a not-so-random direction and asked, "Where did you get that giant dinosaur?"

Despite himself, Batman found himself looking to the T-Rex before he scowled. Diana and Hawkgirl had done the same as he had, glancing towards the dinosaur, though neither of them scowled. The Thanagarian did slap Flash on the back of his head, causing him to flinch. "Now isn't the time for that," she snapped.

"Hey, you can't say you haven't wondered the same thing," he shot back in indignation.

"Considering we just lost our base, Superman and John with it, and J'onn is in a million pieces, I think we have about a hundred more important things to worry about."

"Fine, I'll ask later. And I will too."

And Batman found himself thinking how he wasn't going to answer that question—ever. He was just about to spin his chair back around to look at the computer screen to see what the progress was on the data download when he noticed Diana's posture stiffen. Her head jerked slightly to a side, indicating that she was searching for something.

"Someone else is here," she spoke quietly, immediately putting Flash and Hawkgirl on their guard.

"I thought you said this place was secure," Hawkgirl hissed, one of her hands gripping the handle of her mace. The vigilante couldn't help but noticed its crushed appearance; more specifically, it was as if someone had used their bare hand and squeezed as tightly as they could. It didn't take a genius to figure out just who's handiwork that was.

Batman largely ignored the winged woman, instead jabbing a finger onto a button on his gauntlet. From the top down, the color of his lens changed, activating his thermal scan. He was not in the mood to play around. Slowly scanning the cave, he was quick to note and discard the heat detected from the other Leaguers. It wasn't until he spotted a ledge towards the ceiling that he located their "intruder." Their body was thin and lithe, their crouching form indicating they were scouting them out.

The vigilante immediately recognized who it was.

Calmly, he called out, "You can come out now." This served to confuse the other heroes as they all turned their heads to look at him with expression of bewilderment and incredulousness.

Just as he deactivated the thermal vision, a small, black form descended to the ground, touching down on the floor gracefully even as they crouched down to brace their legs from the shock of landing. While he wasn't surprised by the entrance, the dark-clad man wasn't pleased by her presence either.

Fortunately there had been some thinking on her part considering the girl wore her costume. With Batgirl looking at the League through her black lens and mouth-concealed mask, Batman could tell the heroes were taken back by the sight of her.

"Holy Bat-girls, Batman!" Flash exclaimed. "Since when did you get a sidekick?"

This caused the two women to look to the vigilante, even as he grunted in response to Flash's corny joke. "Who is this?" Diana asked, still in astonishment. A moment later and a thought occurred to her, one that she voiced. "Could this be the apprentice you were telling me about?"

"Apprentice?" Hawkgirl pipped up with surprise. "Since when?

Batman's first instinct was to tell both women not to worry about the girl, but considering their situation, it seemed that wasn't an option, or at least a good one. "She's someone I've taken in," he acknowledged.

"Considering everything I've heard about you and working with partners, I'm finding this hard to believe," Hawkgirl responded, though thankfully her grip on her mace relaxed. "Who is she? Where did she come from? If we intend on staying here, we need to know that she isn't a security risk and taking your word for it isn't going to cut it."

That was a fair point, though that went unmentioned. "For her sake, I won't tell you her name," the Dark Knight replied evenly. "She was being trained to become a hand-chosen assassin for a group of wealthy Gothamites calling themselves the Court of Owls. She has nowhere to go and bringing her here was the only solution I had at the time."

"And she's wearing a Batsuit why?"

"Aside from protecting her identity? She wants to help. It's either I let her, or she goes off on her own and possibly kills someone. This way I can keep an eye on her and not let her get out of control."

"Keep an eye on her?" Flash echoed. "How? She has to be, what, fourteen? Fifteen, tops? Pretty sure there are child endangerment laws against that."

"If you want to convince her not to, by all means. Good luck."

Batman watched the others look to each other, uncertain as to how to interpret that. Seeing them speechless, he said, "As you've already said, there are more important things we need to discuss."

"He's right," Diana agreed, much to the dark-clad man's relief. Considering the moral high ground these people regularly stood on, there was a general sense that if the conversation didn't get back on track, they would be stuck discussing Cassandra's eligibility to being a vigilante. Now was not the time for such talk. "We need to find the current location of the Joker before he strikes again."

"That's all well and good," Flash spoke up before adding, "but what about J'onn? Are we just going to leave him like he is? Wait until spring comes so he can thaw out, assuming we can actually piece him back together?"

That was an issue as well, though Batman had an idea in regards to that. Turning his chair so that he could reach the keyboard, he tapped a few of the keys, activating a section of the cave he hadn't used in years. "There's something we can try," he said, earning the attention of the cave's inhabitants. "There's a hydrothermal generator system that should be able to melt the ice without harming J'onn."

"Umm, what is that? Some kind of jacuzzi?" Flash questioned with bewilderment in his tone. "Why would you even have something like that anyways?"

"I needed to melt ice off of people before hypothermia and frostbite set in," he answered "It's been awhile since I've had to use this equipment, so it's going to take a few minutes to turn on."

"That's one problem hopefully taken care of," Hawkgirl remarked, continuing to stand in place. Apparently she intended on moving when she was sure she had to. "Now about the Joker. Do we have any clue as to where his current whereabouts is?"

"Not in Metropolis if he has any good sense in his head," Flash answered. "Especially after the city was pretty much leveled. The same with Central City."

"And if he is purposefully targeting each of us, then that leaves Gateway City, Midway, and Gotham," Diana suggested. "Denver as well assuming the Joker doesn't know about Superman's actions towards J'onn."

"That's another thing," Flash piped up. "How did the Joker make Superman all smiley and giggly? I thought Big Blue was immune to gasses and stuff."

That was actually a good question. It was a shame they couldn't run a toxicology report on the Kryptonian to determine if and/or what was in his system. That was a mystery that would go unsolved short of an actual confession.

Batman frowned then. In regards to knowing what was inside Superman's body, yes it was too late to find that out, but he did have something on the outside. Reaching to his belt, he opened one of the pouches and reached in, retrieving the small purple rock he had recovered from the Man of Steel. Staring at it for a moment, he couldn't see anything externally remarkable about it.

Of course, these action earned him the attention or the other Leaguers. "Where did you get that?" Hawkgirl questioned.

"That's that rock you pulled off of Supes," Flash answered in his stead. "I thought it was weird for Supes to be wearing bling at the time."

"Assuming it is just a stone," Diana said quietly, moving herself closer to study the rock. "Can you not run some sort of test on it?"

"Just a moment." Standing up, Batman moved away from the supercomputer, making his way to his laboratory set up. Ignoring the various microscopes, beakers, and lab equipment, he headed for one end of the table, where a square platform sat. Once he reached it, he placed the stone on it before calling out, "Computer: run diagnostic on present sample."

The platform began to glow a second later, a green light enveloping the purple rock. On one end of the square, a thin green line lit up, moving towards the opposite side slowly. It took a few moments, but the line reached the other end before making a return trip. Watching it, Batman glanced to the computer to see if any preliminary results had been delivered, seeing none.

Undeterred, the vigilante looked at the rock once more before he turned away, heading back to the computer. By the time he reached the chair, a new window appeared, reading off a list of results. Standing, the Dark Knight began to read them, easily picking out and discarding what he felt was trivial information, such as size, weight, and color.

One line caught his attention though. "Radiation detected," he murmured to himself as he leaned over the computer console. With both hands he began to type an order to determine the radiation level and signature. He waited a few seconds before a new window opened to reveal the results.

The moment he read the radiation signature, he felt his body go cold, his body tensing up as a lead weight appeared in his stomach. That couldn't be right, it just couldn't be. "Computer: run test again," he ordered, hoping it was just an error.

That hope was dashed the moment the second test returned the exact same results, making the vigilante feel all the more queasy. "What is it?" Diana asked then, looking at the window and back to him. "What's wrong?"

With a growing lump in his throat, he swallowed it down hard before he answered, "According to this, that rock is kryptonite."

There was a collective gasp from the group right before Flash exclaimed, "There's no way! Kryptonite is green, ain't it? Since when did it come in different colors?"

 _The moment I discovered how to alter its color spectrum,_ Batman groused inside his head. In all honesty, that had been a dumb question on Flash's part considering he had seen a red version of kryptonite. If this was indeed kryptonite, it had been altered into its present state, its effects unknown without its victim present.

Or perhaps they weren't.

The last time any of them had seen Superman it was without him wearing that purple kryptonite. When he began attacking Metropolis, he had suddenly been wearing it. Was it possible that this kryptonite had caused the Kryptonian's jokerization? A scowl appeared on the Dark Knight's face. If that was the case, then the Joker knew how to alter kryptonite seeing as he would be the only one to want to create a weapon that left its victims smiling and laughing.

The fact there was a second person that had figured out how to shift the color spectrum of the irradiated rock was another cause for concern to him.

When no one answered Flash's question, Diana began to prod him back into the discussion. "Is it true? Is this actual kryptonite?"

"Until proven otherwise, I have to say yes," he responded, slowly lowering himself into his chair. "Due to its color, its effects on Superman were different from the standard green, if I had to guess."

"So you're telling me the Joker specifically designed a piece of kryptonite all so he could turn Superman into that walking nightmare?" Hawkgirl pressed.

"Do you have any better ideas?"

The blank look Batman received in response told him that no, there were no other suggestions forthcoming. However, even though this discovery was terrible, it did give them a lead. "The Joker had to get his hands on some kryptonite, which is naturally hard to come by. Most likely he stole it from someone, or it was given to him. That said, he would need access to a laboratory in order to make the modifications he did."

"I think I have an idea of where to look," Hawkgirl said. "If there's anyone that has kryptonite, it's Lex Luthor."

"He'd also have the facilities that Joker would need as well," Diana pointed out.

Turning to face the computer, Batman began to access a program that brought up a map of Metropolis. Accessing data of kryptonite stashes he knew the Metropolis billionaire had—cash had a way of loosening lips after all—he added in a qualifier for facilities with technology that involved kryptonite. A few moments passed before several dots began blinking on the map.

Eyeing them, the vigilante mentally crossed off several mainly due to their location within the city and their proximity to Luthor. Though it was known Luthor detested Superman, even he wouldn't have agreed to assist the Joker in his plans. Luthor liked absolute control over his endeavors and the clown was anything but controllable. That left two possible conditions: the Joker forced Luthor's cooperation, or he did it without the businessman ever finding out. Considering the lengths the madman had gone to to remain off the grid, Batman was strongly considering it was the latter.

With that in mind, the vigilante found himself narrowing the possible sites to two. One in the northwest outskirts of Metropolis and the other to the south. Fingers dancing across the keyboard, he highlighted the exact locations he was eyeing.

"These are the two most likely places the Joker is either hiding out in, or was hiding out. Both have access to the kryptonite and facilities he would need," he said.

"That's pretty small considering the number of possibles you have on the map," Hawkgirl commented dryly. "Any reason why just those two and not four or five more?"

"Depends on Luthor's involvement in this scheme, though right now I'm going on the hunch that he isn't," he replied. "If we find anything to the contrary, we'll expand the search, but for now we'll investigate these two first."

That Thanagarian nodded. "Okay. Same teams then."

Glancing to a side, Batman noticed Diana had turned to look at him in turn. She nodded her agreement to the arrangement, a small smile on her lips. Looking back to the other two Leaguers, the dark-clad man voiced his acknowledgement. "Fine. There's just one thing we need to do before we leave."

Doing his best to be obvious, he turned his attention to the bag standing in the cave, which thankfully the others caught on as they turned to look as well. "We need to start thawing out J'onn."

That was when Flash responded, "How come I get the feeling that when you say 'we,' you mean us?"


	12. The Monocle

The Hyper-tarmac jacuzzi bath was not how Flash envisioned it would look. In all honesty, when he first heard of it, his first thought was of a bathtub, boiling water, and a couple scantily-clad girls with umbrellas drinks. Oddly enough, those girls shared an uncanny resemblance to Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl.

The reality of it was much less sexy. Instead of a tub, there was what looked like a giant tank full of water. It towered over the red-clad man, a column of transparent glass. There were cables and huge tubes connected to it at the base, most likely to power the thing.

While Flash stood in front of it with his hands on his hips, Hawkgirl was hovering over it, her wings occasionally flapping to keep her up there. Dangling from her hands was the bag of J'onn, the contents just waiting to be dumped in.

Because this was their friend they were talking about, Flash understood why the winged woman was taking her time. She didn't want a piece of the Martian to not fall into the tank. So as delicately as she could, she began to pull the bag up to her, opening it one flap at a time. Once the top was open, she then hefted the bag up, getting a good grip of it at its bottom with one hand while the other stayed with one of the open flaps.

All the while, Flash watched with bated breath. He was primarily focused on the bag's opening so that if a piece did fall where it wasn't supposed to go, he could snatch it up before it was lost forever.

Finally, Hawkgirl began to lean the bag forward. It started slow as one or two pieces of ice dropped out, falling into the water of the tank, where they began to lazily drift towards the bottom. So far, so good. Still, despite this being encouraging, the Thanagarian didn't rush herself, slowly tilting as another piece of ice, and then another, fell into the tank.

Gradually, more and more pieces tumbled out. It wasn't until—Flash estimated—about half the bag was empty that Hawkgirl picked up her pace, flat out dumping the contents in without any disregard. The moment the bag was empty, the redhead tossed it away before she began to drift downward towards Flash, landing beside him. Every piece was accounted for from what the speedster saw, his eyes watching as the chunks of ice fell through the water. Dull thuds were made when the larger pieces hit the bottom.

"Looks like that's all of him," Flash remarked as he continued to watch, Hawkgirl also staring at the sight.

"Looks like," she agreed with him.

"You know, I find it funny how Bats is letting us use his stuff without his supervision."

"Well, he is having to prepare that jet of his. It's not like he could do this while getting that ready."

"True," Flash acknowledged the point. "But if he's willing to trust us to use this machine, why did he think we needed a chaperone?"

At this, he jabbed a thumb to point over his shoulder. Crouching on top of a bulky metal box—what it was or what it contained was beyond the speedster—was Batgirl. The entire time she had been watching them with an unwavering stare. It was creepy to be frank.

What did Bats not want them to do anyways? It wasn't like they hadn't been here before, explored every last nook and cranny of this place, so they wouldn't get lost. They were heroes even, so it wasn't like they were going to steal anything either. There wasn't any need for the guard-bat.

Hawkgirl merely glanced behind them to look at the girl before returning her sights to young man, staring at him. For some reason, he felt she was raising an eyebrow, but her mask did a pretty good job hiding that. "Is she bothering you?" she said snidely. "Does she give you the heebie-jeebies?"

"No!" he protested, his voice echoing a little too loudly for his liking. He then added in a calmer tone, "Maybe a little. Look, all I'm saying is that we don't need to be watched every second we're here."

"You do know it's not polite to talk about people in front of them."

"Oh, please. You saw the way Bats talked about her. She was even looking right at him and that didn't stop him. She didn't even bat an eye!"

"True," the redhead replied, shrugging her shoulders. "And I won't say that he should have done that. I'd imagine, though, that you'd let Batman talk about you like that if he were giving you three hots and a cot."

Well, when you put it that way…

Flash shook his head. "No way, man. I wouldn't stay to be treated like that. Sure he may have a big house with a cave full of the latest high-tech gadgets, rich beyond my wildest dreams, brings home my celebrity crush every other weekend, and...and…"

There was a knowing look on Hawkgirl's face as he trailed off. "God, I hate him and everything he stands for," he muttered his surrender.

"There, was that so hard?"

Flash shook his head furiously. "That still doesn't excuse him. I mean, did you see her costume? Just look at—"

As he was defending his ground, the red-clad man turned so that he could gesture to the poor girl with a hand, only to realize she was no longer crouching on the box. Staring with a confused looked on his face, Flash dropped his arm as he began to search for the girl, only to let out an "Eeep!" when he found her standing right in front of him.

Jumping back a step, Flash flinched from her unexpected proximity to him. Even more disturbing was that Batgirl didn't look the least bit put off by his action. Instead, she looked right up at him, her head tilted back due to the big difference in their respective heights. The black lens that covered her eyes were big and round, giving her an innocent look as she looked up at him.

"Uhh, hi?" the speedster spoke as he stared down at her. He hadn't even heard her approach. A glance out of his eye to Hawkgirl told him she was just as surprised if the look on her face was anything to go by.

Seconds passed without any of them moving—that is if you excluded Flash's fidgeting. He didn't like uncomfortable situations and this one was most definitely one of those.

Slowly, Batgirl seemed to rise up to him, probably because she was beginning to stand on her tippy-toes. This brought her face closer to his, which the red-clad man began to lean away from. He wasn't sure what was going on, but if this girl was falling for his manly charms, he could just imagine how pissed off Batman would be if he caught the two of them making out. It was a total Romeo & Juliet thing, just hopefully without the statutory rape and dying parts. He really, _really_ didn't want to be part of an insane suicide plot.

And then, the young girl raised a hand, reaching up to touch his face, or so Flash thought she was. Her hand hovered between them as if she were unsure of what she wanted to do.

Then she came to a decision. With one finger, she flicked his nose, much to Flash's confusion. Caught off guard, he raised his own hand up and began rubbing his nose with his fingers, looking to Hawkgirl for any possible reason why the young girl would do such a thing. The Thanagarian merely looked right back at him, obviously without a clue as to what was going on.

Returning his eyes to Batgirl, he was in for another surprise as she had simply vanished into thin air. She was just gone, like she hadn't been standing in front of the speedster to begin with. Jerking his head from side to side, he sought her out, finding no sign of her anywhere.

"Huh? What?" Flash sputtered before he found himself staring stupidly at Hawkgirl. "Why? What was that even about?"

"Why are you asking me?" the redhead replied. "Like I know what's going through her head."

"But you're a girl, aren't you? Shouldn't you have a better idea than I do?"

The look he received in response told Flash that he had just said something he shouldn't have. That was always the trouble of talking before your brain had a moment to actually consider whether you should be speaking or not. Many a relationship had come to a dramatic, if not instant end because he couldn't, ironically, slow down.

"You know what, Flash?" the winged woman spoke, causing the young man to slowly begin cringing from what was assuredly a verbal tongue-lashing. "I'm going to pretend that you didn't just say that and start this machine up."

Oh...oh thank you, merciful Jesus. "Yeah, good idea." That's when he ran into a slight problem. "Umm, how do you start this thing up?"

As if in answer, the sound of a generator powering up sounded off, echoing throughout the cave. Startled, Flash whipped his head back and forth until he spotted Batgirl of all people standing in front of a previously unobserved computer panel. One of her hands was held out in front of her, a finger pressing down on a button.

A new sound came from the tank then, causing the speedster to turn back to it. Bubbles began to blow upwards through the water until the only thing visible through the tank's glass was a curtain of rapidly-moving bubbles.

"Oh," was all Flash was able to say.

"Well, this is going to take awhile," Hawkgirl remarked before she turned away from the tank. "It's time you and I headed back to Metropolis. We have a factory to search."

"What about J'onn?" the red-clad man asked, pointing at the tank.

"J'onn's not going anywhere and the others are about to leave, or have left while we've been messing around with this thing. The girl seems to know what she's doing with the equipment, so she can watch and, if need be, protect the place. Now let's go."

"Well, when you put it that way…"

* * *

The Lexcorp building was in shambles. The walls were cracked, pieces broken off due to some sort of fight. Considering all major media outlets had reported this place as being the battleground of a fight involving Superman, the visible damage made sense.

As a location that stored kryptonite and possible kryptonite-based weapons, Batman highly suspected the building had been cleared out at the first chance. No way would Luthor leave a treasure's trove of resources and equipment in a place that would be combed thoroughly with a fine-tooth comb following the fight. It had become a crime scene the moment Superman had entered it, so a law enforcement search was practically expected.

Entering the building through one of its many holes, Batman landed on the floor, the soft tapping of his boots touching cement echoing through the room. A moment later Diana joined him, touching down right next to him.

Silently the two scanned the room, searching for anything out of the unusual, be it a lead or a trap. All the while, Batman reached to a pouch on his belt and opened it, pulling out a small device.

Due to extensive research by Wayne Enterprises, STAR Labs, and a multitude of other laboratories, it was known that kryptonite gave off radioactive radiation, its ion composites exhibiting an unique signature. The device in the vigilante's hand was a modified Geiger counter, specifically designed to detect the presence of kryptonite by picking up the radiation it gave off.

Turning on the handheld device, Batman held it up in front of him and watched as the needle on its face began to swing back and force. A crackling sound was being emitted, softly at the moment but that would change momentarily.

Walking forward, the Dark Knight held the Geiger counter in front of him, a frown appearing on his face as he soon noticed the crackling sound growing louder. A few steps more and the needle was pressed towards the right side of the gauge.

Glancing to the floor, he was quick to note the signs of what looked like light scorch marks. Kneeling down, he reached a hand out, two fingers extended, and dragged them over the mark. Bringing his fingers back, he examined them, noting dark particles dropping off of them.

"Have you found something?" Diana inquired then, coming to a stop behind him.

"There was some kryptonite here," he answered her. "A strange place for it out in the open. Either someone dropped a piece here recently, or—"

"Or this was where the Joker placed his purple kryptonite on Superman," the Amazon finished for him. She paused for a moment. "What about those markings?"

"Something powerful and hot made them. If this is indeed where Superman was exposed, it's likely he was taken down with some sort of weapon." Glancing about the floor, he saw several more scorch marks. "Multiple shots were fired too. Yet, these could have been made when Superman was first here."

"Then we continue looking."

Standing back up, Batman ignored the constant pinging of the Geiger counter as he began to move forward. The device slowly began to quiet down until it was just a repetitive pop. As the two heroes passed the large chemical tanks, it was becoming apparent this part of the building was mostly for storage of chemicals, acids, and waste products, at least if the labels on the tanks were accurate. There were labels for hazardous waste, flammable and toxic warnings, and directions for safe practices painted the the hulls.

That was when Diana grabbed his shoulder, causing the dark-clad man to stop. Turning his head to look at her, he saw the Amazon pointing to a set of elevator doors. There wasn't anything peculiar about them, but they did offer access to the rest of the facility. Seeing no other reason than to do a thorough check, something they should do later if they hadn't found something more concrete, the vigilante allowed his comrade to lead him to the doors.

Once they reached it, Diana hit the up button, receiving immediate results as the doors slid open. Boarding the elevator, Batman was quick to note a panel with the buttons for the other floors as the doors behind them slid shut a moment later. However, toward the bottom of the panel a security card reader extended out. In fact, the card reader had been wrenched out of the panel, a couple of wires keeping it dangling in midair, revealing an opening from whence the wires emerged.

Kneeling down to look at it at eye level, Batman stared at it. Someone had wanted to bypass the security feature, that much was evident. Peering into the hole he noticed a couple pairs of wires had been cut and stripped, their copper wiring exposed. This had allowed the person to connect each wire with a different end.

But to what end? Glancing to the rest of the panel, he examined it until he realized one of the buttons lacked an identification number. For the various floors, the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on had been labeled on specific buttons. However, there was one that lacked such a label. While some buildings had blank buttons, they were usually towards the top of the panel, not the button as this one was.

Could it be so simple?

Hitting the number-less button, the elevator began to move down, a soft hum filling the steel cage. A few moments later the elevator came to a stop, the doors opening soon after. The first sight that greeted them was a small room with a steel wall facing them on the opposite side. Off to the right was a desk, which was cluttered with folders, papers, and a computer. To the left was a cot, a bed sheet lying on top of it in a pile along with a pillow. A nearby trashcan was overflowing with open plastic wrappers and fast food bags.

Batman narrowed his eyes. Someone had been living here, recently even. His nose detected the scent of old food, just on the verge of spoiling, if not spoiled already. Entering the room, he went directly to the desk, grabbing one of the folders and opening it.

Diana was right behind him, picking up a file as well and opening it to read it. While Batman didn't read every single word, he was skimming the document, and the parts he did set his teeth on edge.

A moment later, Diana spoke, "These documents speak a lot about kryptonite."

Placing his current folder down, the Dark Knight picked up another and simply scanned for any reference of kryptonite, finding several. Repeating this action over and over, he found most, if not all, of the documents were about kryptonite.

Specifically, they were about the weaponizing of the radiated rock.

While Batman wasn't surprised that someone was attempting to do this, it still left a sickening feeling in his gut. Before they left here, he was fully intent on gathering up any and all data on these kryptonite projects and removing them from the premises. There was no way he was going to leave such information out for anyone to stumble upon—assuming that such a thing hadn't already happened.

Faintly, he wondered why they hadn't been gathered already. Was Luthor so arrogant that he felt no one would find this place? Or perhaps he had enough leverage in the local police force for them to turn a blind eye to his properties. Or maybe it was simply that there was no way he could move all this stuff, not until the attention focused on the facility lessened.

Either way, someone had found this place and made themselves right at him.

Now though, that just left the two Leaguers one last place to check, that place being behind the steel door. Moving to it, the vigilante was quick to note a computer panel with a single button on it. Hitting the button, the door opened up, revealing another small room.

Entering the chamber, Batman was quick to realize it was a supply room. The only thing that was in here though were hazmat suits. Seeing a glass door directly in front of him, Batman could only surmise that the next room was a decontamination chamber.

Grabbing two of the suits, which were hanging from the wall by hooks, he tossed one to Diana, who caught it with a surprised look on her face. "Put that on," he grunted to her even as he began shoving a leg into his own suit, followed by the other.

"There is nothing beyond this room that can harm me," she stated matter-of-factually, lowering the hazmat suit down until it was half hanging from her hand, half lying on the floor.

"That may very well be," he admitted before adding, "but others aren't. If you go in there and there's radioactive material, you can easily carry it on your person and expose it to others who aren't immune to it."

The dark-haired woman slowly nodded her understanding before she too began putting on the suit. It took a couple of minutes for them to put on everything and make sure they were airtight—or at least as protected to the vigilante's satisfaction—but once they were ready, they stood in front of the glass door.

Punching a nearby button with a finger, the glass door slid to a side, allowing the two to enter it. A moment later the door slid back into place, a hissing sound being made as the room was sealed. Patiently they waited until another glass door opened and a sickly green light poured through the opening.

 _Mother of God…_

Slowly, numbly even, Batman moved into the room. There was kryptonite everywhere, sitting on the floor, growing up and down the walls, even hanging from the ceiling. An occasional table and workstation broke up the formations, turning them into several smaller ones instead of one giant one. On top of the tables was various equipment, tools, and devices that were most likely the end-product of an engineer's design.

"Hera," Diana swore next to him, her voice distorted by the hazmat helmet.

"Luthor's made himself quite a collection," Batman commented, silently adding to himself, _And this is just one of several stockpiles._ He had been expecting a larger than normal stash of kryptonite, but this had gone beyond any of his expectations.

Exploring the room, Batman soon found himself drifting over to a workbench, an open tool box with several of its contents lying on the table. A transportable computer stand stood nearby and the Dark Knight couldn't help but take a seat on a stool and boot up the computer. It didn't take more than a few seconds before an image appeared, one that he recognized as a design blueprint. Reading over the specs, a design was pictured on the screen along with various equations and numeric values. As far as he could tell from his perusal, someone had been trying to create a device that discharged a power surge fueled by kryptonite. It wasn't a bad idea if one wanted to get into a fight with Superman; having a weapon that could hit him from long range and do serious damage was ideal.

However, the design he was reading required the discharge to be administered in close range—as in the target had to activate the device to fire off a blast of kryptonite-based energy. That hardly made any sense.

"Have you found something?" Diana asked him, coming to stand at his side.

"Possibly," Batman admitted before he pointed a finger at the design specs. "This is a blueprint for a weapon that emits kryptonite as a laser. Yet, from what I'm reading here, the target would have to trigger the firing mechanism. That goes against any conventional wisdom that I can think of."

"Perhaps they were trying to make something used in close-combat?" the Amazon suggested. "What better way to make sure Superman is hit by it than to fire it point blank?"

That was a fair point and it would have to take someone extremely brave, or extremely stupid to pull off. Looking to the table, he glanced at the objects on top of it. Aside from the tools, he couldn't help but notice a small buzzer lying discarded nearby. Its innards had been removed, making it useless, an empty shell.

For some reason he couldn't look away from the buzzer itself.

 _"My mother always said to carry an electric buzzer—you never knew when you'd need one, heh heh!"_

Batman nearly smacked himself in the head. How could he have not seen this?! "The Joker's been here," he growled lowly.

Diana snapped her head to stare at him. "How do you know?"

Pointing to the empty buzzer, he explained, "That's what's left of an electric buzzer. The Joker was rather fond of one that could emit high doses of electricity." He then gestured to the computer. "And the design specs are of a device that requires close proximity to its target to be used."

"Such as an kryptonite-powered joy buzzer," Diana finished for him.

"The cot outside is where he slept and ate. He must've been here for days preparing to take down Superman, modifying his electric buzzer, creating that purple kryptonite." Batman scowled. "There's no telling how long he's been preparing for us."

"You believe he's made countermeasures like the ones you did?" Diana questioned him. Much to her credit, she didn't say that maliciously. She was coy with her words, suggestive if anything. She clearly didn't want to upset him, even if she was feeling that way herself.

"Let's look at what we know. The Joker created a strain of Joker Venom that could only be spread by Flash. He then made a synthetic kryptonite along with a kryptonite-based weapon to subdue and poison Superman." Batman paused to let his points sink in. "In my book, once is happenstance, twice is coincidence. I am not going to wait until a third instance for it to become a pattern."

"Not to mention your familiarity with this madman," she added.

He gave her a sharp nod. "Collect everything. Documents, papers, half-finished equipment, I want it all. We'll be transporting it all to the Cave for further analysis."

"What about the kryptonite?"

"I'll be disposing of that very soon."

* * *

"Well, that was a bust," Flash remarked as he came to a stop outside the large building. Hawkgirl stood nearby, arms crossed over her chest as she waited with a bored look on her face.

The decision had been simple: Flash would run through the entire complex and look for anything less than honest. The search had taken seconds and there hadn't been so much as a green hair found. There had been kryptonite, sure, but there was only one piece and it was currently on lock down. It would have taken someone with serious determination to break the lock, or pry the lead-lined door open. So much for a stockpile.

All of the equipment hadn't been used, no signs of foul play noticeable anywhere. This was definitely not the place they were looking for.

"Hopefully Bats and Wondy found something," the red-clad man added. "Wouldn't want any of this to be a waste of time."

"No kidding," Hawkgirl replied. "You're certain you didn't find anything? See something out of the ordinary?"

"Not even so much as a whoopee cushion, or a chattering box of teeth."

"Well then, we're heading back to the Batcave. Don't get too far ahead of—"

The sound of an explosion rang out, interrupting the Thanagarian. The sound had been dull and distant, indicating it was nowhere close. Both heroes turned their heads to look towards the city, seeing a rising cloud of smoke from deep inside Metropolis.

"If it isn't one thing, it's another," Flash muttered before turning his attention back to Hawkgirl. "We have to see what that is. There could be—"

"People hurt there, I know," the redhead interrupted. "Get there as soon as possible, but if there's any clown activity, you find me first before investigating."

"Roger, over and out." In an instant, Flash was running, the world blurring around him. He ran down a black line, making sharp turns left and right as necessary. The buildings lost their color, becoming an endless brown wall on either side of him.

And then Flash stopped, his feet skidding across the asphalt. Quickly, the blurring colors began to sharpen until he was able to make out the scene around him. Heh, well what do ya know? The First National Bank of Metropolis was getting hit. So it was an old-fashioned bank robbery.

This he could handle.

"Alright, guys!" the speedster hollered at the bank front. "This is the ever-popular, incredible, Fastest Man in the World, the Flash! I'm giving you a chance to come out with your hands above your head, and give yourselves up! Do so and I won't have to hurt any of you!"

There, that sounded reasonable to him. Unfortunately, the robbers inside didn't see it that way. It took a few seconds, but the sound of gunfire told Flash their response. The rapid-fire of bullets tore apart the glass doors, sending pieces of lead flying at the red-clad man.

"Whoa!" Flash exclaimed before he darted to his right, avoiding a hailstorm of bullets. Immediately he raced towards the bank, entering it milliseconds later. As it turned out, there were three robbers, only one of whom was firing their machine gun, the other two standing further back in the bank, each holding a sack in one of their hands. They were all dressed in turtlenecks and slacks, the usual outfit for crooks these days.

Due to his speed, Flash could see the gun-firing thug slowly turning his weapon as he tried to shoot at the speedster, bullets flying at incredibly slow speeds, the air around them rippling and leaving trails in their wake. Arcing his path, Flash closed the distance between him and the man, throwing a punch at the literal last moment, and slamming it into the guy's face.

The combined force of the punch and the speed in which it was thrown sent the robber flying off his feet and through the air, crashing into the wall seconds later. In the process he dropped his gun to the floor, a moment later followed by the man as he collapsed into a heap.

Not even breaking stride, Flash raced towards the other two robbers as they slowly moved to aim their guns at him. He reached the first one in half a heartbeat, leveling him with a fist to the face, knocking him down to the ground. Not even missing a step, the red-clad man was right at the last man an instant later, decking him as well and sending him to dreamland on the floor.

And then Flash came to a stop, the world around him returning to normal. Dusting his hands off, he looked at his handiwork with a little satisfaction. That had done a world of good for him.

In fact, he would've called up Hawkgirl to tell her everything was all said and done had something not slammed into his side, and sent him crashing into a wall before dropping to the floor. "Ow, he groaned before shifting so he could push himself up.

That when he caught sight of a new guy. Unlike the robbers sprawled on the ground, this guy seemed to take his fashion seriously. An older gentleman—if the white at his temples were any indication and Flash was pretty sure it was—was standing in a rather nice suit. He even had an old-fashioned blue cape hanging from his shoulders.

"I see you have dealt with the riff-raft," the man spoke haughtily, raising a hand up to adjust a monocle in front of his left eye. "I should have known better than to have hired them."

"I'd say," Flash agreed even as he pushed himself onto his feet. It was then that he realized this old dude hadn't been anywhere near where the Speedster had been standing. There was no visible weapon in his hand, so how the heck had he delivered a wallop of a blow to him? "Mind telling me why you're robbing a bank?"

"For the money, why else?" the man responded as if he were talking to an imbecile, his—admittedly awesome—mustache twitching with irritation. "Now if you would kindly get out of my way, I'll be taking my leave."

"Sorry, pal, but you chose the wrong time to be doing this."

"To the contrary, there is no better time considering."

Oh, so that's how it was. This guy was taking advantage of Superman's attack and its aftermath to score a quick buck. Real nice, guy, real nice. "Well, hate to break to ya, but this was really the worse time for your shenanigans. It's been a long day and I really don't have the patience to be playing with you. So how about you give yourself up and save the both of us a lot of grief."

"No, I rather think I will not do such a thing."

Flash was about to say, "Suit yourself," before knocking the guy out cold. He never got the chance, however, as the guy's monocle began to glow before a laser beam fired out of it.

"Whoa!" he shouted as he darted to a side, the beam flying behind him, sizzling through the air. He could practically feel the heat of it against his back. So that was what had hit him earlier, it just had to be.

However, the elderly man didn't seem content on just firing one beam. Instead, he began rapidly firing multiple energy blasts at him, creating a barrage of lasers that streak towards him.

Unfortunately for him, those beams would never hit the red-clad man. Instantly he was ducking, bobbing, and weaving through the oncoming onslaught, dashing from side to side as he juked and twisted his body through the space between the blasts. It was child's play really.

And all the while, he drew closer to the monocle guy, speeding himself up so he could avoid the beams at close range. The moment he was within hitting distance, Flash let him have it, driving his fist up and landing an uppercut to his foe's chin. Head snapping back, the man was lifted off his feet and sailed backwards until he landed unceremoniously on his back on the floor. Even better, Flash spotted the man's monocle skipping across the ground on its rim, until it hit the crown molding of a wall, bouncing off of it and clattering onto one spot on its side.

"Kinda feeling stupid right about now," Flash remarked, arms across his chest as he looked lazily at the old man. He was lying on his side, shifting about with his cape draped over his head while one arm was raised up to make a tent out of it. "Don't worry, that's how most people feel when taking on the Fastest Man Alive."

The man went still then. "Is that so?"

"Yeah, pretty sure."

The man moved his cape from over his head with his extended arm. The next thing Flash knew, a blue flash fired from the man's face, blasting his feet and lower legs. The speedster felt intense cold as he yelped, falling over and landing on his side. Gritting his teeth, he looked down at his feet, only to see them encased in ice. Oh, that just couldn't be good.

"It would seem I am not the one to be feeling—how do you say—stupid," the older man spoke as he rose to his feet. Returning his attention to him, Flash saw he had another monocle on and he was looking down at the red-clad hero with disdain.

"I will have you know that I have many monocles, dear sir; one for _every_ occasion. As you can most certainly feel, this one freezes people."

"Great, so you collect fancy eyeglasses, big whoop," Flash bit out sarcastically. "That's not much of a gimmick, I'll have you know...uhh..."

He paused, eyes blinking dumbly. "What's your name again?"

The man pointed his nose up. "I have not given it nor shall I offer it to a wretch like you."

Flash shrugged. "Hey, that's okay. I'll just come up with one for you. Let's see...Bushy Brows? Suit Guy? How about the Rich Cape? Like that sound of that one? It does have a ring to it."

The old man went red in the face, probably from anger. Scratch that, most definitely anger. "Never, you twit! If you must know me by something, you may call me...call me…"

Flash smirked at him. "See? Not so easy, is it?"

"Silence!" the man roared. "I am...the Monocle! All that see me shall tremble beneath my presence!"

There was a silence. Then, "Kinda like Rich Cape better."

"Well, I don't! And just to make sure I _never_ hear that name again, I'm going to freeze that mouth of yours shut!"

Flash's eyes widened. "Ohhhh, you don't want to do that."

The Monocle's...monocle...began to glow blue, a gleeful smile appearing on his face. "Enjoy your cold sleep, peasant."

"How about not?"

Flash jerked his head around while Monocle lifted his up. Flying through the open bank door was Hawkgirl, racing towards the old guy with her face twisted in anger.

Alright! The cavalry was here!

And then Monocle fired his freezing blast again, only this time right at the charging Thanagarian. She tried to move to a side, but wasn't able to as one of her wings was hit, ice immediately encasing it. Screaming, the redhead dropped to the ground, skidding over it as her momentum kept her moving until she came to a stop.

"So you did bring some help," Monocle commented, staring at the fallen woman. "Perhaps I have overstayed my welcome." Looking to Flash, he took a step closer to him before kneeling down. "It would be so easy to finish the both of you here and now, but I feel this is appropriate enough. Let your defeat here be the prison to that pride of yours. Know that forevermore, the Monocle was the man to bring you down."

Standing back up, he then sauntered towards the back of the bank, heading right for the vault. Even from where he was lying, Flash could see a back exit near the vault, only to be used for emergencies, but the red-clad man felt that Monocle didn't care about such matters.

Damn, this sucked.

* * *

Hope y'all caught the Deadpool reference. It was just too good of a moment to pass up, I must say.


	13. Unlocking The Black Box

The moment the door to the decontamination room sealed shut behind them, Batman let out a sigh. There was no telling how long he and Diana had been in that room, but it had to have been hours. Raising his hands up, he took hold of the helmet of his hazmat suit and pulled it off, cool air finally touching his face after being covered by the suffocating helmet.

Dropping it onto the floor, the vigilante began stripping himself of the rest of the suit, letting it pool on the floor next to his discarded helmet. Next to him, Diana was doing the same, her face gleaming with a light layer of sweat. It took them a couple minutes to free themselves of the suits, but once they did they left the decontamination room.

It was going to take some heavy-lifting, planning, and stealth to remove the stash of kryptonite here. Already Batman was considering his options on how to do this, though it was obvious that this endeavor would have to be done at a later time. There was simply too much going on at the moment to secure the stash at this time; this place was as good as any to keep it safe until retrieval could be done.

As the last door to the decontamination room closed, the dark-clad man couldn't help but look to the computer in the room. It was one thing he hadn't checked, which he might as well do before they left. There was no telling what the Joker could have been using it for.

As he made his way to it, he heard Diana following, or at least that's what he assumed she was doing. It wasn't until he heard a brief pause in her steps before he heard her say, "This seems like an odd thing to keep here."

Stopping, Batman turned around to regard the Amazon. She was standing over by the cot, holding a teddy bear in her hands. He had to agree, it was strange for a stuffed animal to be left behind, even one that had obvious signs of use to it. Ready to dismiss it entire it, the vigilante began to turn away before his entire body froze.

That bear, it was missing an eye.

"Drop it!" he roared as he swung around and sprang towards the dark-haired woman, who looked at him with surprise. Immediately, he swatted the teddy bear out of her hands, sending it flying towards the wall. The stuffed animal rebounded off the sheetrock, but didn't travel very far, falling to land back on the cot.

A moment later, a green gas spewed out of its mouth, firing a small geyser up into the air..

Wrapping an arm around Diana's shoulders, he forced her to kneel down on the ground while he flung his cape around them. As they crouched beneath the cape, Batman pulled out a small, orange grenade, shoving his thumb on top of a button at its head. Shoving his arm out through an opening in the cape, he tossed the grenade away, already imagining a stream of orange gas being released from it. Pulling his arm back, he made sure his cape was wrapped tightly around him and Diana.

"What's going on?" Diana hissed at him, though fortunately she made no attempt to move away from him.

"Trap," he answered succinctly. That was a good enough answer for her as she remained silent.

That changed several moments later when she asked, "Is that the Joker Venom I've heard about?"

"Yes."

"Do you have an antidote do it?"

That was what the gas grenade was for. It was currently releasing a gaseous form of the antidote, which should be neutralizing the Joker Venom—at least theoretically. The moment the Joker had made his presence known, the Dark Knight had begun carrying the devices in such a case where Joker Venom was being released without any clear exit. Regardless, he did have a couple vials of the antidote just in case.

"I do," he replied.

"Can it inoculate us against the toxin?" Diana questioned.

Now that was a question. To be honest, he didn't know the answer to that. Hypothetically, yes, it should immunize them, but he had never tested it nor wished to. At the moment though, it seemed that this was going to be as good of a time as any.

Either that or they were deluding themselves into killing themselves.

Reaching to his belt, the vigilante pulled out his airgun, handing it over to the Amazon Princess to hold. There was no way he was going to release his hold on the cape, not when he could potentially expose the two of them to the toxin. That just left him with one hand to fish in the belt pouch for one of the antidote vials. The moment he did, Diana snatched it away and loaded it into the airgun, handing it back to him. She even leaned her body so that she could offer up her arm.

Without needing further prompting, Batman pressed the barrel of the airgun into her upper arm and squeezed the trigger, injecting the antidote into her. The moment he pulled away, the dark-haired woman was reaching up to take the airgun. "Now you," she said.

That was easier said than done. Though he retrieved another vial, he had to remove one of his gauntlets with Diana's assistance in order to expose himself for the injection. He winced as he was injected, but thankfully his partner was quick about it, placing the airgun on the floor even as she helped slide his gauntlet back on. "Hopefully this will prevent any unfortunate side-effects from the toxin," she commented.

 _Oh yes, let's hope so._

Focusing on his hearing, Batman sought out any sound that indicated gas was still being injected into the room. He could make out the hissing from his chemical grenade, but he couldn't make out if the teddy bear was finished. Hopefully it was done, which was a lot better than the sound of the grenade masking it. To be on the safe side, the vigilante fully intended on waiting until the hissing stopped.

It took awhile, but eventually everything was silent. Cautiously, Batman drew his cape away, slowly standing up on his feet, Diana following his lead. The wall by the cot was dyed a sickly green color due to the exposure of the Joker Venom. The floor by the chemical grenade was orange too. Taking a steady breath, Batman smelled a combination of the toxin and antidote; it was strong too thanks to the enclosed room.

More importantly, he wasn't feeling like he needed to laugh; that was a bonus. Either the antidote-filled grenade had done was designed, or the antidote inoculation was effective; perhaps it was both. Looking to Diana, he was more than happy to see she too seemed unaffected. "It's time we left," he said to her, drawing her attention to him.

Her lips drew into a smile then. "I agree." Then she stepped towards him, his cue to begin heading for the door. However, before the dark-clad man could so much as take a step, he felt a pair of lips press against his check.

Startled, he froze in place before he slowly looked to the Amazon. "For your foresight in preparation," she answered his unspoken question. Then she began walking towards the elevator doors.

That was...unexpected.

" _Batman? Wonder Woman? This is Flash, come in."_

Both of their heads perked up at that. "We read you," Batman replied, pressing a hand against his cowl.

" _I need you at my location ASAP. Hawkgirl and I are in a bit of a pickle."_

The Dark Knight clenched his teeth tightly. Already he could picture another Joker attack, this one immobilizing two more Leaguers—bodies they couldn't afford to lose. "What happened?"

" _Oh, you know, ran into a bad guy who decided my legs and Hawkgirl's wings looked better in ice. I gotta tell ya, I disagree."_

Batman shared a look with Diana, one that clearly showed their confusion. "We're on our way. ETA: ten minutes."

* * *

"S-s-s-so t-t-tell me again, w-w-why am I g-g-going l-last?" Flash asked through chattering teeth.

Batman didn't even spare the red-clad man a glance. "Because you have a faster healing time than Hawkgirl. She has a greater chance at losing her wing than you do your legs. The sooner we get that wing thawed, the better for her."

Diana looked to Flash, doing her best to give him a comforting smile. She was currently floating right at the top of the hyperthermic tank, helping slide Hawkgirl into the warm waters. An oxygen mask had been fitted over her face, so the redhead wasn't all that concerned about drowning. Slowly, she sank into the water, careful to not bang her ice-entombed wing on the edge.

Once she was sure her sister was in, Diana drifted down to land next to Batman and Flash. Fortunately there were two tank in the cave; unfortunately one was still being used by J'onn. The Martian had long since been removed of ice, but pieces of him were still floating about the tank, something that worried the Amazon.

The second tank, which Hawkgirl was in, actually stood behind the one J'onn resided in, so it was no wonder they had missed it the first time they had been introduced to the machine. Currently, Batman stood at the nearby control panel, entering data into the computer. With a final few tapes of the keys, he then grabbed a large dial and began turning it.

Before her eyes, Diana watched as bubbles began to rush upward and envelop Hawkgirl. A generator powered to life, creating a sound that was almost deafening. The three heroes watched the bubbles right until Batman began turning the dial down. Slowly, but surely, the Thanagarian reappeared, looking the same as she had upon entering the tank.

That was disappointing to Diana—at least, that had been her initial reaction. She almost missed a piece of ice chip off before it was followed by another, then another. Then, to her joy, the ice broke apart, exposing Hawkgirl's wing to the water surrounding her.

"She'll need to stay in there for a little while," Batman spoke then, causing both Diana and Flash to look at him. "We need to make sure she has adequate perfusion to that wing before we get her out."

"Oh, no biggie," Flash responded from where he laid on the ground, the chatter in his voice vanishing for some reason. "I can wait, what, ten more minutes? At least that's how long I have before frostbite sets in. No rush whatsoever."

"Good." The Dark Knight then turned away and began walking to another part of the Batcave, mostly likely to his giant super computer.

"He does know I w-was being sarcastic," Flash said to the Amazon, some concern laced in his voice.

"I'm sure he does," Diana replied. _Caring is an entirely different matter, however._

* * *

Sitting down in his chair, Batman looked up at the monitor of the supercomputer.

Things were becoming more complicated. He should have known someone would have taken advantage of the current situation in the wake of Superman's rampage. If Superman had been attacking Gotham, he would have expected gangs and other criminal elements to go on a spree of mayhem and carnage while the police had their hands tied with damage control. Criminals would impose their wills upon the shell-shocked citizens, claiming new territories, and taking out rivals. Despite Metropolis' proud proclamations of being the "City of Tomorrow," it was just that, a city. It was not immune to crime, no matter how much it swept it under the rug.

However, just because common criminals didn't make the newspapers, that didn't preclude super-villains. This Monocle seemed to be such a person considering he swiftly dealt with two Justice League members in a matter of seconds. While Batman doubted the man had actually powers—more like he was technologically powered if Flash's account was anything to go by—he was still dangerous and thus needed to be apprehended.

Typing on the keyboard, Batman hacked into the Metropolis bank's security feed and rewound it, stopping when he got a good picture of the Monocle. At least, it was the best one right before the man fired an energy beam that destroyed the cameras. He matched Flash's description to a T. Activating a program, he began running a facial recognition on the man.

"You are sure Flash won't lose his legs, right?"

Turning his head to a side, the vigilante spotted Diana walking towards him, coming to a stop next to his chair. She was looking up at the computer screen, watching the various programs at work. "I am," he replied to her evenly before returning his attention to the monitor.

"Good, though just to let you know, Flash doesn't seem to be comforted by that."

"It took me awhile to get those tanks set up, programmed, and running," he explained to her, leaning back into his chair. "I was in the finishing stages of completing it when I had my first subject and she received a full recovery. That was after a few hours of having her legs covered in ice and without super powers."

Diana raised an eyebrow. "She?"

"She."

"Any reason you're not telling me who she is?"

"Not really. It was Lois Lane, if you must know."

"Oh." A pause. "So does she…"

"Know who I am? Yes."

"How did that happen?"

"Miscalculated how much sedative I had given her." That had been the first of many times someone had found out about his alter ego, though the dark-clad man had taken steps to make sure no one found out as easily as Lane had. "She woke up and recognized someone who was helping me at the time and put two and two together."

"I don't suppose you let her off easily," the Amazon inquired.

"After making sure she wouldn't expose me, she was free to go. I've kept an eye on her from time to time, but thankfully she had someone else to keep her mind off of me."

It didn't need to be said just who had attracted Lois Lane's reporter eye, a smile appearing on Diana's lips before she asked her next question. "If I'm not being too forward, why did you take her to the Dorsey Gala?"

This time it was Batman's turn to crack a smile. "That was mostly to annoy Superman. Never would have thought it would cause the aftermath it did." At this he gave a pointed look to the dark-haired woman.

This in turn made Diana frown. Following her and Superman's arrival at the gala, newspapers around the world had proclaimed them "The Power Couple." No amount of denials and refuting that story had changed public opinion. This had caused no end to the grief the two heroes felt, none more so than Superman. He had a pissed-off Lois Lane to deal with and she was more than capable of making the Kryptonian feel small. In fact, Batman had it on good information that Lane still made snide remarks about it, especially within super-hearing distance.

That was when an alarm from the computer went off, drawing their attention back to the screen. A picture of the Monocle appeared minus the monocle, revealing the man's name to be Johnathon Cheval. His personal information was listed next to the image, along with a last known address, employment, and associates.

Batman's eyes narrowed as he read. It seemed Cheval fancied himself a high-rolling investor if the list of corporations he was associated with and stocks he owned were any indication. He also had a bad eye it seemed as most of his investments went south. The only one that was still standing was a Cheval Optics; though considering that company was currently under investigation by the SEC, it seemed this guy didn't know what he was doing with his finances.

The vigilante knew the type of man Cheval was all too well. There were plenty of his ilk that would show up at the parties and charities he attended, all wanting him to invest in their latest venture. It didn't matter that the last five times they asked, the venture went belly-up, the newest one was always bigger, better, and would never end up like the other "can't miss" opportunities.

It seemed Cheval couldn't resist such offers, which would account for his robbery.

"It doesn't look like this man will be a big problem," Diana commented after a moment. "Assuming he's not smart enough to have a safe house to hide in and not return to his dwellings."

Rapidly striking a few keys, Batman entered a search of Cheval's known residences, finding them all to have a security system in place. Accessing the account, it was quickly revealed only one of the residences had the security code inputted in the last twenty four hours.

"Once Hawkgirl and Flash are back to form, we'll go apprehend him," the vigilante stated.

"You don't think you and I will be enough?" the Amazonian Princess asked, surprise in her voice.

"I rather not take any chances," was his reply.

He received a sharp nod in return, something the dark-clad man was grateful for. Had this been six months previous, he would have been challenged by her indignation at being considered unworthy. Their time training with each other had tempered that mindset it seemed.

Of course, another alarm had to ring out, forcing another change of subject. Much to Batman's delight, the computer had just finished downloading the data from the League's black box. Multiple windows began opening, a couple of which were clearly security footage while others were records and other pieces of data.

"Finally," he said as he began tapping on the keyboard. Glancing to Diana, he then spoke, "It's about time Hawkgirl came out of the Hyperthermal Tank. Flash can go in now."

"I'll get right on that." There was no hint of sarcasm, or disgust at being given a menial task. There was simply acceptance and without further prompting, Diana turned and headed back to the others. That was fine with Batman. Right now he needed to go over the black box recordings.

* * *

A dull _bong_ echoed out as Diana rapped her knuckles on the tank's glass. Hawkgirl stirred from the sound, her eyes looking to the Amazon. Diana merely gestured for her to swim upward, the redhead complying. Floating up through the air, the dark-haired woman met her friend at the top, who was pulling her face mask off. Drawing closer, she softly placing her hands beneath the Thanagarian's arms and shoulders. Pulling, she hauled Hawkgirl out of the tank, assisting her down to the ground.

"It's about time," Flash said loudly as he watched. His eyes, however, seemed to focus on them, glazing over. "Maybe I was too impatient," he murmured.

"What are you getting at Flash?" Hawkgirl grumbled at him, eyeing him warily.

"Well...you're wet…"

"So? I just got out of a water tank. That's to be expected."

"And you're getting Wondy wet."

"And?"

"That's getting her wet too."

Diana looked down at herself and Hawkgirl, noticing that her uniform was becoming saturated with the water trickling off her body. She wasn't sure what the relevance of that was, but apparently the redhead did.

"Grow up, Flash," she spat at him, her tone irritated. "Just...grow up."

"Maybe some other time. For now, it's my turn to get into the jacuzzi thing."

"Let him do it himself," the Thanagarian told Diana. "Help me to the med bay."

"Hey!" Flash protested. "That's not fair! I can't exactly climb my way up there!"

"He does have a point," Diana pointed out, earning her a glare from her fellow sister.

Ultimately, Diana did help Flash into the tank, securing the face mask before lowering him into the warm waters. Unsure what the exact process was to power the machine on, she chose not to mess with the controls and instead helped Hawkgirl to the med bay. The moment they got there, the Thanagarian plopped herself on one of the metal beds, pulling off her mask as she let out a sigh. She then looked up to the Amazon and asked, "Any headway on that Monocle guy?"

Diana nodded. "We have his identity and a possible location on him."

"Really? So why haven't you gone and arrested him yet?"

"Batman felt it was best if we waited for you and Flash to be at full strength. He didn't want to take the chance that Monocle would escape or that we both would be incapacitated."

Hawkgirl nodded, her face contemplative. It wasn't often Diana saw the other woman without her mask, but she looked less severe and hardened without it. It was like looking at a more vulnerable Hawkgirl.

"Well, if this guy was dumb enough to go back to his own home, it won't matter if we wait for Flash to recover," the redhead said then, interrupting Diana's musings. She then swung her legs up onto the bed and laid down, moving her arms up so that her hands could rest on the back of her head. "I'm going to rest here. Let me know when we're ready to move."

"Will do." Turning away, Diana floated off the med bay platform and began gliding back towards the supercomputer. Hopefully Batman was making some headway with the black box.

* * *

Batman sensed Diana's return long before she actually landed next to him. "Flash is in the Hyperthermal Tank?" he asked.

"Yes, but I did not activate the machine," came the dark-haired woman's reply. "I wasn't sure what to do, so I left it alone."

That was fine. If need be, the vigilante would activate the machine if there was a need for it. For now, the warm waters would thaw the ice out and slowly return sensation to Flash's legs and feet.

"Have you found anything?" the Amazon inquired then.

"I have," he answered her before he pulled up one of the windows. It was security footage of the Monitor Room at it's last recording. Currently fire was bursting through the walls and enveloping the entire room. "Computer: rewind footage to 0800 hours," Batman ordered.

Immediately, the fires disappeared from the frame, showing the Monitor Room as it normally was. Hitting one of the arrow buttons on the keyboard, the footage began to speed up, a time stamp in the bottom right corner rapidly flipping through numbers. It was a few minutes before people showed up in the image, that of the Justice League minus Superman and Green Lantern.

"This is where we teleported to Metropolis," Batman narrated even as the teleporter whisked them away in a bright light. Waiting a few moments, the vigilante finally released the arrow button, allowing the footage to move at a normal pace.

Diana was silent as she watched. He had half-expected her to ask what she was waiting for, but it seemed she had the patience to wait. She was rewarded when the teleporter activated and a bright light flashed. Her eyes widened as she gasped as the Joker appeared on screen.

"How is this possible?" she whispered as she watched the madman glance around the room before he walked off the teleportation pad. A moment later he began tap-dancing in the room, something that caused a growl to escape her lips.

Batman paused the footage, pulling up another window. "I cross-referenced the teleportation logs to determine when and who used the teleporter. At the time the Joker entered the League HQ, Superman's access code had been used."

That caused the Amazon to jerk her head towards him. "Superman would never—" she began to declare.

Only to be interrupted by the vigilante. "He wouldn't normally, but that doesn't mean the Joker didn't get the information through other means. In order to activate the teleporter, the Joker would have needed Superman's comm device. He could have easily snatched it from Superman when he subdued him. As for the codes, he would have needed Superman to verbally tell him and considering he was under the influence of kryptonite…"

"Superman could have told him everything the Joker wanted," Diana finished for him, picking up where he trailed off. She sounded resigned, something that troubled the Dark Knight. Looking at the screen, she seemed to prefer to study it rather than look at the vigilante. It was because of this she spotted an important detail.

"He's carrying the briefcase you and I found outside the headquarters," she quickly said, raising a hand to point at the very object in question.

Batman nodded his affirmation. "Which means he wanted us outside of the building when he blew it up. He has others plans for us it would seem."

"How did he do it though? How did he manage to destroy the Justice League Headquarters?" At this, Diana turned to look at him with a questioning look on her face.

He sighed. "I had to comb through all of the logs, but I did manage to find out what the Joker accessed when he used one of the computers. He accessed the reactor that fuels the transporter and overrode the fail-safes that keep it stable. The reactor was unable to handle the energy output caused by the transporter and began to meltdown. That's what caused the explosion."

The Amazon Princess was silent for several moments, contemplating what she was hearing. "Every move this man makes has multiple layers to it," she remarked. "Using Superman to attack Metropolis not only preyed on desire to protect the city, but it drew us out of our headquarters so he could blow it up. Why would he do that though?"

Batman closed his eyes for a brief second before answering, "To show us there is no safe place we can hide from him."

"Then we have to find him first," Diana declared.

"Easier said than done." At this Batman raised one hand and held it over the keyboard, hitting a few buttons to bring up the transporter logs. "The location the Joker teleported to and from were the same. Care to guess where that was?"

The Amazon genuinely thought about this, though she ultimately ended up looking at the window showing the logs. "The facility where we discovered the kryptonite," she answered at last, her shoulders sagging at this realization.

"Which is where he departed from considering we didn't find him there. Either that or he was able to mask his presence entirely and watched us investigate." Though that was a possibility, it was one Batman didn't like in the least. It meant his intuition was dulling, something he had spent many years honing so that he wasn't snuck up on in the field. Yet, the Joker had demonstrated an ability to go undetected until he wished to make himself known.

Their brief confrontation above the Lazarus Pit was one such example.

The sound of a wet footstep reached his ears then, causing the vigilante to perk up. "Perhaps I can be of assistance," a stoic voice called out.

Batman rotated his chair while Diana spun around to face the source of the voice. Standing a short distance away was J'onn sans his normal attire. His blue briefs and boots were on, but gone was his cape and the red straps that crossed his chest. Fatigue was etched on his face, yet his body stood strong as rivets of water trickled down his green flesh.

"J'onn!" Diana exclaimed with joy, taking a step towards him.

"Welcome back," the Dark Knight greeted him. "How are you feeling?"

"Like my mind and body were shattered into countless pieces," the Martian responded as he slowly made the journey towards the computer.

"Will that affect your telepathy?"

"It is a distinct possibility, but until I use it I won't know the extent of any potential damage."

Batman raised an eyebrow. "Are you proposing to use your telepathy to track down the Joker?"

"It is one option we have not used," J'onn said evenly. "And at this point I am willing to try anything."

"Then it can wait." This statement earned the vigilante the stares of both Leaguers. "You need to continue to rest and we have a criminal that needs to be apprehended before he makes a bigger nuisance of himself. I assume you're aware of the Monocle by now."

J'onn stared blankly at him before he slowly nodded. "I do now. You may be right. I suppose you still intend on taking Flash and Hawkgirl with you?"

"I do. While we're taking care of that business, you can continue sifting through the League's black box data. That should help get your mental faculties up to speed."

Which is exactly what they needed now. Slowly, but surely, they were regaining their forces, even if they would forever be missing two of its members. Delving into those empty roster spots would have to be shelved for the time being. For now they needed to bring the man responsible to justice.

* * *

To guest: In this story, you mean? Can't say I have plans for him in this one.


	14. Perfectionist

Chaos was a beautiful thing. It was primal, true, and absolutely the life of the party. In comparison was Order—rigid, boring, uptight Order, the ultimate buzzkill. You could only have one, but not the other, not at the same time anyways.

Yet, there was a strength in Chaos that Order did not have. Order was fragile, vulnerable to something as small as a crack; Chaos, on the other hand, was solid and untameable. Society always tried to reign it in, lock it up, and throw away the key so that Order stood a chance at running the show.

So after creating the ultimate display of Chaos imaginable, it was only natural that people would take advantage of it.

That part was okay, he didn't mind it at all. In fact, he encouraged opportunists to take what they could get while the getting was good. There was very little they could do to interfere with the game already in progress. They were the halftime show that ultimately disappointed everyone and made them complain around the water cooler the next day at work.

Unfortunately, one of these little distractions was starting to divert attention away from where it should have been. Someone was trying to steal his spotlight and that just wouldn't do. Nope, nope, nope, this was his rodeo and the clowns knew better than to get in the way of the matador.

Wait a second, there weren't matadors in rodeos…

See? This was just upsetting him! He couldn't keep his metaphors straight! This...this was just unacceptable.

Clutching binoculars, he watched as four people moved through the night air, two creating a perimeter while the other two entered a rather expensive-looking house. The owner had to have illegal immigrants manicuring his lawn and bushes because the place looked way too polished for someone to afford union guys to come out more than once a month. Why, people must have been out here at least once a week!

Regardless, this new distraction had to be dealt with. He wasn't the star of this story, no way, no how.

Lowering his binoculars, the Joker scowled from atop the building he stood on. It seemed these people needed another lesson in manners. Considering there wasn't a Super Nanny around, he would just have to be the one to teach it.

Good thing he had been given his teaching certificate recently. That seminar guy had been dying to give it to him and it would be such a shame to let it go to waste. The world had no idea how lucky it was to have such a selfless man like him willing to make the hard choices.

* * *

Cheval was living in a ritzy neighborhood at the edge of Midway. It was built along a hill that overlooked the city, Cheval's home naturally at the top of the ridge. The roof was flat, extending out from the building, forming an overhang. Manicured bushes and grass stretched out to the steel fence that surrounded the property.

Kneeling on the edge of the roof was Batman, his palm pilot in hand. Overlooking a pool and patio, the vigilante worked at hacking the house's security system. It was a good one, but he was confident he could shut the system down. He only needed a few—

A light flashed off of the palm pilot's screen indicating he accomplished what he had been after. "We're in," he grunted as he shoved the device back into its pouch on his belt. A footstep followed by a hand resting on his shoulder alerted him to his partner.

"So we enter?" Diana asked him, looking down at him. He gave her a sharp nod before he pulled away from her, dropping off the roof and landing on the patio. A moment later the Amazon landed next to him.

Silently the Dark Knight moved to the sliding glass door, tugging on it lightly and found it unlocked. Cheval was careless in his arrogance. The dark-clad man had been expecting all the doors and windows to be locked, prompting him to pick the lock. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, he slowly slid the door open until he could easily enter the house.

The lights were on, revealing a carpeted living room. Off to the right the floor dropped down a couple feet, forming a pit. A large screen television sat on one end of the pit, a cushioned bench lining the edge of the hole save for a spot where steps gave easy access to its floor. This home definitely had the feel of 70's architecture and design.

Unfortunately, there was no sign of Cheval in the room. He was somewhere here though. He may have lived like the wealthy, but if he was knocking off a bank, he was _very_ conscious of money. No way would he leave the lights on if he wasn't here, not in his current financial situation.

"I hear someone," Diana whispered. Turning his head, Batman looked at the dark-haired woman, seeing her head tilted to a side. Her eyes were focused, but not on anything specific so much as she was concentrating on her hearing. She then nodded towards a hallway in the corner of the large living room. "It's coming from there."

Batman made his way towards the hallway, entering it with his comrade right behind him. The hall had a couple of doorways on each side, the doors closed shut. At the end was a set of stairs, the carpet covering each step. Pausing for a moment, the vigilante turned his head slightly so he could look over his shoulder. Diana again nodded, indicating to head up the stairs.

Continuing to move, the two of them crept up the stairs, arriving on a second floor soon after. Again they found themselves in a large room, yet this time it was an office. It was spacious with very little furniture. A desk with a couple of chairs in front of it was the featured set piece, a few plants and a couple cabinets lining the walls with various pictures and paintings.

And standing in front of the desk was Cheval, his back towards the staircase as he propped himself up on the desk with his arms. He seemed oblivious to their presence as Batman and Diana came to stand on the floor, staring him down.

"I know you're there," the man suddenly spoke. His tone was droll, unimpressed by the presence of the two Leaguers. "You disabled my security system, correct? Don't be surprised that I know this; the security company sent me a text a couple minutes ago informing me of this."

Cheval spun around then, leaning back on the desk as his hands rested on its surface. Batman was quick to note a monocle was placed over his left eye. There was no telling what it could do, not if Flash's report of its abilities was accurate.

Still, the Dark Knight was annoyed by Cheval's claim. To be outed by a home security company doing its damn job, no fault of its own. That this man was able to deduce the Justice League was behind the break-in indicated he was a man of logic. Though his demeanor was irritating and haughty, he had good reason to act that way.

Not at all disturbed by the lack of a verbal response by the League, the older man then spoke, "Now you, the Batman, if you would be so kind as to keep your hands out in the open, we can speak to each other like civilized people." Narrowing his eyes, Batman humored the man, rolling his shoulders so that his cape hung from his back rather than envelop him; this put his hands right where Cheval could see them.

Cheval smiled. "Very courteous of you. Now, Wonder Woman is it? Do not reach for your golden rope there. You will not be needing it."

Diana's stony look indicated she was not at all impressed by the man's cavalier behavior. "Only if you refrain from using that eyeglass of yours."

"Ah, now that is where we have a difference of desire." Cheval shifted his weight as he made himself more comfortable against the desk. "You see, this monocle is my only weapon of self-defense. If I were to remove it, I would be at your mercy, which gives you no incentive to carry out our conversation. Perhaps if you were to remove your powers, we could then discuss my purposeful disarmament, but seeing as how it is unlikely for you to give up your strength, I must refuse to leave myself helpless."

"Then you need to listen to my words rather than presume what I'm saying," Diana countered. "All I said was not use it, not take it off."

That caused Cheval to pause. It seemed he had assumed what he would be told and planned out his answers ahead of time. He was a man that thought he was smart rather than simply was.

"So you did," he said, unsure as to how to react. He then visibly shook his head, trying to regain the upper hand once more. "Would it be safe to presume you are here to arrest me?"

"Considering you did rob a bank, yes we do," the Amazon answered.

"And you have proof of my involvement, yes?"

Diana glanced over to Batman, unsure whether she should reveal what they found on him. The Dark Knight felt it was up to him to take over the conversation at this point. "You were caught in the act of the robbery by the security cameras. Your face is easily identifiable."

"Ah, but cannot footage be altered? I can hire any film expert that will successfully argue that point."

Batman stared at the man. That answer had completely wiped out any sort of grudging admission that Cheval may have some intelligence about him. He was firmly living in his own world and any credit he was due was by happenstance aligning with his point of view. There was no point in arguing about doctoring security footage, nor pointing other pieces of evidence that firmly put Cheval at the scene and committing the crime. The older man would make up some excuse to how he could destroy the credibility of the evidence.

Simply put, there was only so much talking you could do with this man before you were forced to give up.

Diana, on the other hand, refused to give up on such a pointless battle. "No expert in the world is going to find any doctored footage that we can provide. It clearly places you at the bank and robbing it. There is no need to alter it."

"Consider where the footage is now, though," Cheval was quick to note. "It's currently in the hands of an infamous vigilante, is it not? Vigilantes by rule of law are lawbreakers, which makes any evidence they may have in their possession inadmissible. The Lock Ness Monster has a better chance of admitting evidence than he does."

While that was a fair point, Batman could see that Diana was about to defend his honor, so to speak. As far as he was concerned, there was no reason to—he had found ways around that sticking point before, he could do it again easily—so he held up a hand and gestured for the dark-haired woman to stop. Seeing the gesture, she refrained from speaking, giving him a curious look in turn.

"We can argue this in circles all night," the Dark Knight said then, earning him the full attention of the room. "Regardless of how you look at it, you are a person of interest at this moment, which means you are being brought in for questioning. Because you're entitled to your day in court, we're going to make sure you get it. I'm fine with letting the courts determine your guilt—the question is: are you?"

That made Cheval hesitate, no doubt considering the backlash he would face being accused of robbing a bank in a city that had just been demolished. The PR only would cripple him forever, making any future he had in investing a pipe dream.

"A-again, I point you to your status as vigilante," he stammered out, his confidence draining out of him. "No court will—"

"Outside of Gotham, perhaps," the dark-clad man acknowledged, interrupting the older man. "But if you would look to my left, you'll see Wonder Woman, a respected and valued member of the Justice League, a publicly-accepted and sanctioned organization that has apprehended plenty of criminals. While the rest of the world may frown at my involvement, they're not going to turn away a suspect brought to them by the Justice League."

That was the final nail in the coffin for Cheval. His eyes darted back and forth between Batman and Diana, looking as if he was unsure how to deal with the situation before him. It was obvious he was used to having the upper hand in all aspects of his life, even when things were going sideways for him.

All of this ultimately caused him to snap. "I won't let you take me!" he screamed as the glass of his monocle glowed yellow before firing a large energy beam at the two Leaguers.

Immediately they dodged in opposite directions of each other, allowing the blast to fly by them harmlessly until it burned through a window and flew out into the night's sky. All the while, Batman reached for his belt as he kept low, noticing out of the corner of his eye Diana taking off running at Cheval with her incredible speed. Due to them being separated, Cheval wasn't sure what to do: aim at the charging Amazon or try to finish off the dark-clad vigilante.

Batman was fully intent on making sure he never made a choice. Pulling out one of his bat-shaped shuriken, he whipped his arm out, sending the projectile flying. It arched through the air as it flew, colliding with the side of Cheval's face, causing the man to cry out as his head jerked to a side, his monocle sent flying off of his face and through the air.

An instant later Diana was on him, delivering a solid uppercut that picked him right off the floor and sent him soaring over his desk and into the back wall. There was a loud _BANG!_ from the collision, the man dropping onto the floor as he landed on his hindquarters.

That should have ended things. No way did a pompous ass like Cheval not go into unconsciousness from a blow from Wonder Woman. Yet, as Batman was reminded many times throughout this life, there was no such thing as a sure thing; this was just one such example.

Instead of lying with a bruise on his face, Cheval somehow stayed conscious. Dazed, he looked around the room, clearly not in a right frame of mind. Yet, instead of staying helpless, he blubbered out, "Security activate."

Suddenly, a panel from the wall to Batman's right extended out, revealing the barrel of a gun turret. The same thing happened on the opposite side of the room. Even worse, both turrets were pointed right at the vigilante.

 _Oh, shit._

There was no time to breath, much less think or even move. One instant he saw the turrets pointed right at him, a split-second later they were firing bullets, unleashing the sound of Hell into the room.

Though Batman had no time to react, Diana did.

In less than a blink of the eye, the Amazon was standing with her back to him, her arms a blur in front of her as she blocked the bullets, ricocheting them off her bracers. This bought the vigilante the second he needed to duck behind her, effectively using her as a human shield, not that she minded. She was doing an admirable job at deflecting the bullets, but even he knew that at some point one would get through—and that was all it would take—and that would be the end of both of them. They needed to take out those turrets.

Reaching to his belt, Batman pulled out a bola with each hand. Grabbing one of the metal balls hanging from the cords, he pressed his thumb onto ball until he saw a red light flash. Ready, he began rotating his wrists until they bolas were spinning in circles in his hands.

Spinning to his left, he sent the bola in his right hand flying, not bothering to watch it spin its way until it reached the turret. The cords would wrap around the gun the moment they made contact, stopping only when the metal balls collided—

An explosion rang out and Batman knew that turret was finished. Twisting to his right, he sent his other bola racing towards the other turret, this time watching it wrap around the weapon until the explosive detonated and destroy it in a blast of fire and smoke.

The Dark Knight found himself scowling. He should have done a more thorough check of Cheval's home defenses before coming in. Between the time in the cave and his hacking of the security system on the roof, he had plenty of time to research and discover this deadly trap. Had Diana not been here, he would have been a spatter of blood and flesh at this point. Slowly moving out from behind her, he was even more furious to notice the lack of Cheval's presence in the room.

"It seems he's escaped," Diana remarked coolly, her arms hanging at her sides. She then looked to him, the corner of her mouth twitching up in a small smile. "It's a good thing you insisted on bringing backup."

* * *

The Jaguar roared to life with the twist of a key. The garage door was opening too damn slowly for Cheval's tastes and the only thing that kept him from forcing his way through the slowly-growing opening was that the car was a collector's item, a veritable work of art, not to mention worth more than most men's lives. Scratching the exterior was blasphemous regardless of whether it was on purpose or not.

The moment the garage door was high enough so as not to nick the roof, Cheval shoved the shifting gear into drive, slamming one foot on the clutch and the other onto the accelerator. This car was going to be put through its paces tonight.

Shooting out of the garage, Cheval tore through the driveway, glad that he at least had the foresight to activate the gate opener before he climbed into the car. Without hitting the break he skidded onto the road, shifting gears to speed up. There was no telling if those Justice League fools were still alive after his activation of his home security system, but he did not want to stick around to find out. The further away he got, the better it was for him.

Now that he had a moment to think, things could not have gone any worse. Those heroes had thought up angles on him that he hadn't considered. How could he have overlooked Wonder Woman? How? And that Flash fellow now that he thought about it. Both were considered respectable in most social circles and thus they could point to him for his involvement in Metropolis.

He should have killed the Flash when he had the chance.

There was still time to correct this though. All he had to do now was rid himself of witnesses, anyone that could positively identify him. Everything else would go his way once those loose ends were taken care of.

A sharp rapping sound to his left shook the man out of his thoughts.

Jerking his head to a side, Cheval couldn't help but widened his eyes at the sight of the very man he had been thinking of. The Flash was running along side his car, a proud smirk on his face as his arms pumped at his sides. The red-clad man then raised one of his hands up and began rotating it in a circle, gesturing for him to roll down the window.

Dumbly, Cheval hit the button to do just that, the window making a buzzing sound as it slid down. Once it was down, he heard the Flash call out, "Pull over, you're under arrest!"

The older man turned his head to look out the windshield, glanced back at Flash, then returned his attention back to the road ahead of him. It was almost too surreal to be honest. He...he had the chance to start cleaning up this mess!

Cheval's first impulse was to use his monocle to blast the man, but he realized one fatal flaw with that plan: his monocle was missing. He couldn't feel the rim pressed against the rim of his eye socket. How could that be?! He always wore one! He—

A tightness on the side of his temple made itself known then, which incidentally caused him to recall why he wasn't wearing his beloved monocle. That Batman fellow had knocked it off of him when he had flung that...that...batarang thing at him. It was lying on his office floor, much to his dismay. He was weaponless, naked even.

That still left him with his current problem. He needed to think, come up with some idea to kill this man before it was too late. Cheval's hands tightened on the steering wheel. As much as he didn't want to do this, there wasn't much choice anymore.

Jerking the wheel, he swerved his Jag at the Flash, causing the man to dart sideways to avoid being hit. "Whoa!" he exclaimed as he avoided contact with the car.

Pulling back into his lane, Cheval glanced repeatedly at the running man before he tried to slam the side of his car into him again. And again, Flash dodged, not even once losing speed. "Okay, buddy, you really need to observe the rules of the road!" he shouted at him.

Looking up ahead, Cheval noticed the road curved to the right, a guardrail lining the left side. A wicked smirk appeared on his face as an idea came to him.

Returning once more to the proper lane, the older man bided his time, allowing Flash to pull back up next to the car. Every passing second brought them closer and closer to the guardrail and ultimately the foolish boy's demise. He could practically picture the blood staining the railing's metal surface.

Then, at the last moment, he swerved at the hero, fully intent on crushing the man against the guardrail. However, instead of the Flash moving to—and thus trapping himself against—the guardrail, he killed his speed, vanishing from sight as he fell behind.

That left Cheval to hit the railing with the side of his Jag. The sound of screeching metal filled the air as the man screamed, trying to pull away from the guardrail, but his arms weren't cooperating. His poor car dragging along side of the railing, sending sparks everywhere the entire time, until it reached the end of the rail and only then was Cheval able to pull back into his lane.

"No! No, no!" he cried. He didn't need visual confirmation to know he had just scratched up the entire side of his car, no doubt sizeable dents were somewhere in his car door. He...he just wanted to pull over and sob at the catastrophic damage.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to. Movement through his windshield caused Cheval to stare out in front of him. High up in the air was that woman with the wings, Hawkgirl. She was flapping those feathered wings, moving further ahead of his car and thus further down the road. Dumbly he just watched her.

She then dropped through the air, stopping her descent a few feet above the road. Incidentally she was facing his approaching car, holding a crude, blunt instrument in her hands.

It was only at the last second that Cheval was able to realize what it was this Hawkgirl was holding. In her hands was a thick stick, something that looked like it belonged in his fireplace. On one end of the pole was an even bigger rock, easily the size of a bowling ball, and it was tied securely onto the stick with rope.

And with a swing, the winged woman slammed the makeshift mace down onto the hood of his beloved Jaguar.

The results were instant. The hood caved in with a loud _BANG!_ In fact, the front bumper of the car was forced down onto the pavement, causing the back wheels to leap off the ground, killing any and all forward movement. Cheval lunged forward into his seat, his face ramming hard onto his steering wheel, the air in his lungs being knocked right out of him and leaving him breathless.

* * *

The back of the really fancy car dropped back onto the ground, bouncing a couple times before it finally settled down. A second later Flash was standing next to the car, peeking in to find the Monocle leaning forward on his steering wheel, looking as if he had just gone five rounds with Mike Tyson.

"So, willing to give up now?" the speedster asked, not expecting a reply. When the Monocle didn't respond, the red-clad hero said, "That's what I thought."

That was when Hawkgirl landed next to him, tucking her wings in and glancing at the beaten man emotionlessly. "It's about time too," she spoke with annoyance in her voice. "I'm done chasing this guy down."

Nodding, Flash then raised a hand to his ear, hitting his comm link. "Hey, Bats, Wondy, we got Monocle. Where are you two?"

There was a short pause before he received an answer. " _We're in route,"_ Batman said. " _The police are on their way in no small part because of Cheval's private security system. They should be there in a few minutes. Make sure he's turned over to the authorities and head back to the cave."_

"I take it that's where you're heading?" Flash inquired.

" _Affirmative. Batman out."_

Looking over to Hawkgirl, the speedster asked, "I take it you heard the Bat, right?" Upon seeing her nodding her affirmation, he then suggested, "How about you take off? I got everything handled here."

"Not a good idea," she replied. "Remember, we need to stay in pairs. We don't want a repeat of what happened to Superman."

"Oh, right." Flash looked to the car, frowning at it. "This was a really nice car."

"Uh huh," the Thanagarian responded, not the least bit interested.

"It's a shame it got wrecked. It's practically priceless."

That was when a low sob came out of the car. Looking through the open window, Flash could see the Monocle starting to cry, tears falling from his eyes. It seemed he agreed with the speedster's assessment.

* * *

His life was over. Effectively, Cheval had a pending criminal record about to be pinned on him. That practically made him radioactive to any reasonable investor in the world. Even if he beat the charges, no one would be willing to touch one of his subsidiaries, much less do business with him.

It hadn't been all that long since he had been tossed into the back of a police cruiser, courtesy of the Flash and Hawkgirl. The two heroes had taken off shortly after handcuffs had been forced around his wrists. Slumping in his seat, Cheval wondered if this was how rock bottom felt.

"Dispatch, this is Unit #73," the police officer in the driver's seat spoke into his radio. "Bringing in the Metropolis First National Bank suspect, Cheval, Jonathan. We're twenty minutes out, over."

" _Roger that, Unit #73. We'll be ready for you at the precinct, over."_

Cheval hung his head then. This was easily the worst night of his life; it was even lower than that one time he had discovered he had been suckered into not one, but two Ponzi schemes at the same time. And unlike then, he didn't have immediately contact with his lawyers in order to start litigation. There was no telling when he would get a chance to talk with them. Midway PD didn't exactly have a sterling reputation for being kind to their prisoners.

Each minute drug on by, another one that added to the growing, sickening feel in his stomach. Leaning back into the car seat, he rested the back of his head on the poor excuse for a headrest. Uncomfortable, he rolled his head to his left, staring out at the scenery blurred by.

Scenery that suddenly came to an end and revealed the bright headlights of an oncoming truck.

There was no time to cry out to warn the police officer. The truck slammed into the driver's side door of the cruiser, causing the side of the car to cave in. Glass from the windows shattered and sent pieces flying all over the place. Violently, Cheval felt himself thrown towards the opposite side of the car, crashing hard against the door, his head banging hard enough on the window to cause it to crack.

A sense of spinning filled Cheval's body, telling him the police car was in fact spinning around in a circle, slowing down until it came to a stop. Lying against the right passenger door, Cheval groaned. What were the chances of being involved with two different accidents at the same time?

Coughing, Cheval tried to call out to the police officer, managing to croak out, "Officer? I'm hurt."

When he didn't get an answer, Cheval shifted his eyes to look at the policeman. The man was slumped over the steering wheel, trickles of blood flowing down his shoulder, back, and arm. _Oh, that didn't seem good._

"Sir?" he tried again, once more receiving no response. Was...was it possible this man was dead? If so, he had been given a genuine miracle. He could escape!

Suddenly, the door he was leaning on swung open, causing Cheval to weakly cry out as he fell out of the car. He landed on his shoulder, his legs following him and piling on top of his body uncomfortably. Something had to give and he ended up rolling from one shoulder to the other until his lower body finally collapsed onto the ground.

"Ah, ohhhh," he groaned, squeezing his eyes as he fought down the general soreness that filled his body. Opening his eyes, he was surprised to find a man standing nearby, a dark trench coat covering his frame, a wide-brim hat nestled on his head. Due to the tilt of the man's head, the hat's brim hid his face from sight.

"Ah, sir, please, I need some assistance," he begged. "I was wrongly accused, I assure you. If you could, I need you to take me to an associate of mine. You can trust you will be well rewarded for your help."

The stranger didn't answer, something that bothered Cheval. "Did you hear me? I said I will pay you," he tried again.

There was another silence, one that didn't sit well with Cheval. In fact, he was starting to get nervous. However, it was the strange man who ended up breaking this silence.

"You know, I hate people like you."

The older man jolted where he lay. "I beg your pardon," he demanded heatedly.

"Do you know what you are? You're a scene stealer." The man suddenly took a step towards Cheval, who responded by worming his way back, finding himself bumping against the side of the ruined squad car.

"And you know what a scene stealer is, right?" the man continued, unperturbed by Cheval's growing unease. "It's a side character that yearns for the spotlight and actively takes it from the more important characters. They serve as a distraction from the story, forcing it to go in a direction it really doesn't need to go. And audiences love them. They want more of these insignificant characters until the studios give in and do the unthinkable.

"They make a spinoff."

"I have no earthly idea what you're talking about," Cheval protested, getting his right arm in on the action as he tried to drag his body down the length of the car. "Please, just leave me be."

"Oh, we can't have that now, can we?" The man then reached into his trench coat, only to pull out a handgun that looked to be the mother of all handguns. It's insane size made Cheval freeze where he lay.

"No, please, I beg of you, don't hurt me," he pleaded.

The man pointed the gun right at him, Cheval staring down the barrel as he was sure it was aimed right at his head. However, he now had an angle on the deranged stranger and he saw his face.

Extremely pale skin was wrinkled as red lips drooped down in a frown. Sunken eyes bored into the older man own and Cheval felt his stomach drop. "You...I know you…" he gasped.

Suddenly, the gun dropped down and fired. Pain exploded through Cheval's knee, causing him to scream wildly. A second later, his other knee was blown apart as the madman fired a second shot.

The Joker raised his gun up and blew on the end of barrel, blowing away a rising cloud of smoke. "Now that I know you can't escape, it's time I told you just what you're screwing up." Calmly, he placed his gun back into its holster beneath his coat. "You see, I have a grand show and you're doing your best to be a showstopper. Now, I can't have that, not after all the trouble I've gone through to make it possible.

"I know you were hitting up that bank in Metropolis and that's something I really don't mind. In fact, I applaud your opportunism. There needs to be more people like that in this world, in my oh-so humble opinion."

That was when the Joker pulled something else out of his coat, light glancing off of a shiny, metal surface. Cheval gulped as he stared right at the wicked-looking knife, the madman slowly kneeling down next to him. "My issue, however, is that you're taking attention away from me. There can only be one showstopper here and that showstopper is me."

"Oh, I agree, completely and earnestly," Cheval quickly agreed. "I apologize for any incon—"

The Joker's hand shot out and tightly grabbed his chin and lower jaw, stopping the older man from talking. "That's enough out of you," the pale man growled, causing Cheval to whimper. "Now where was I? Oh, right, showstopping. Unfortunately, as a performer myself, I know there are plenty of other, hungrier guys out there willing to make a quick buck. They'll take advantage of all the mayhem I'm creating and eventually they'll end up just like you are now—drawing attention away from me. I simply cannot let that happen.

"So an example must be made and, fortunately for me, you will be the example."

Cheval began shaking his head frantically, impeded by the Joker's strong grip on his jaw. "Naaaww, Ppplease nawww," he tried to say.

The Joker held his knife up, its tip pointing right at Cheval. "Now hold still, I can only do this once. The whole world is going to see this and I want to make it perfect.

"After all, I'm a perfectionist."


	15. Specialist

The night's air was cool and crisp, giving Flash a rather relaxing feeling. It was invigorating, something that had been hard to come by the last few days. Flash always felt this way after catching a bad guy; there was just something satisfying with restoring the balance to the world, or so he saw it. Bad guys do bad things, kick butt for awhile, then get their comeuppance as they cry to themselves in the back of a police car.

Oh yeah, he had seen the misery of Monocle's face before they had parted ways.

As the speedster ran down the road he was on, the countryside passing around him as a blur, Hawkgirl was high in the sky, keeping up with him primarily because he wasn't trying to break the sound barrier. They had agreed to stay with each other and Flash was going to do his best not to outrun his winged friend.

Up ahead was an approaching small city. Had it been any smaller and Flash would've thought the place was a ghost town at this hour. A distinct lack of traffic could convince a guy of that. Yet, the closer he came to it, the more he could pick up the sounds of some sort of nightlife going on.

Passing into the city limits, he was soon speeding between buildings and darting through intersections. While there weren't a lot of people around and even less cars, there was plenty of light so that he could see and there were even stores that were still open.

One of them was an electronics store; the only reason Flash knew this was because of the big show window revealing rows upon rows of televisions conveniently on. The red-clad man only had an instant to glance at them before he was nearly a block away.

It took an additional two blocks for Flash to realize exactly what he saw on those televisions and another one to skid to a stop. Racing back, he stopped right in front of the store and stared at the multitude of screens.

"Oh crap in a hand basket."

Hitting his comm link, he said, "Uhh, Wings? I think we have a situation."

" _What kind of situation?"_ was her immediate response.

"It's...uhh, something you just have to see for yourself. I'm in front of—" at this the speedster looked up to see the name of the store, finding it in big, bold, red letters, "—Jeff's Electronics."

There was no response to that. Instead Flash waited in silence that seemed to stretch for a really long time. It couldn't have been more than maybe half a minute, but when you were impatient and the world typically crawled at a snail's pace around you, just about any waiting time could seem like a hundred years.

Hawkgirl gently landed next to him then, looking at the red-clad hero as she asked, "What's up?"

In response, the speedster raised a hand up and pointed at the televisions. "That."

Each and every TV screen was of the same news channel. And as it so happened, there was a reporter holding a microphone in his hand, a big number 7 indicating it was Channel 7 news. The reporter was standing on a road, a car wreck visible behind him, with police cars and ambulances parked all over, flashing red and blue flights filling the night's sky.

To top it all, a banner at the bottom of the screen said the reporter was at Midway.

Hawkgirl's eyes sharpened on the image. "That's not too far away from where we stopped the Monocle," she spoke.

That wasn't something Flash wanted to hear. He had a number of thoughts floating in his head and none of them he liked. So naturally that was when the right side of the television screens became a blue banner, a picture of Johnathan Cheval appearing at the top, with the word DEAD beneath it.

"I think we need to go back," Flash said then. "We need to make sure we know what happened."

"It's a car accident, Flash," Hawkgirl retorted. "Those happen all the time."

"Yeah, but how many of them happen while we're trying to hunt down a deranged psychopath?"

The Thanagarian hesitated. "You have a point," she admitted before she let out an aggrieved sigh. "Fine, we can check—"

That was all the red-clad man needed to hear. Before his comrade could so much as react, he snatched her up off the ground, one arm wrapped around her back and the other beneath her knees. An instant later he was running at top speed back to Midway.

"The hell are you doing?!" Hawkgirl demanded, her arms instinctively wrapping around his neck.

"This was just faster," he briefly explained. The sooner they got there, the better, right? Going at Hawkgirl's pace would have only made him more anxious than he already was.

And then they were at the scene. In one graceful move the speedster had set Hawkgirl back on her feet and separated from her, coming to a stop next to a couple officers. "Hello, officers," he greeted cheerfully, earning him several startled looks. "I just happened to be in the neighborhood when I heard something was—uuuuughh!"

Several feet away from the red-clad man was a busted up police car and lying right next to it was a bloody mess that Flash could only assume was the Monocle—or at least what was left of him. There was a lot of blood on the car, ground, and the corpse, yet the most eye-catching of it all was the Monocle's face. It was frozen in an expression of pain and terror in contrast to the bloody smile that had been cut into his face.

Unconsciously, Flash raised a hand up to his comm link and activated it. "Uhh, Bats? We have a problem in Midway."

Much like his previous contact with Hawkgirl, there was a moment's silence before the vigilante responded. " _What's the problem?"_

"The Monocle is dead and someone decided to get very knife-happy with him. I think you need to get over here as fast as you can."

There was an even longer silence before Batman replied, " _Roger that. Set a perimeter and make sure no one contaminates the scene, over."_

That was when someone screamed out in rage, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Normally that would've made Flash at least give the screamer his attention, but in this instance he couldn't tear his gaze away. It wasn't until a hand roughly grabbed him that he was forced to look at a bald man in a messy dress shirt and tie, his face red like a tomato. "Get the hell off of my crime scene, ya bum!"

Before Flash could respond, Hawkgirl was at his side. "Get your hand off of my friend, Stone," she glowered at him. At the very least this Stone guy removed his hand, but he didn't back down.

"Oh great, you're here too. Why are you sticking your stinkin' bird nose into my investigation?" he griped at her

"Not that I have to tell you, but we arrested that man no more than half an hour ago," the winged woman explained. "Now he's dead and we want to know why."

"So does everyone here, missy. Now how about you let the professionals take care of this?"

"Don't call me 'missy,'" Hawkgirl growled dangerously. "It's Hawkgirl."

"And I'm Detective Stone. _Detective._ If you're gonna address me, you better make sure it's with that," Stone retorted.

Well, it seemed these two were more than acquainted with each other and not in a good way either. It seemed it was up to Flash to make these two dogs back off of each other. "Okay, have your way, Det. Stone," he spoke, earning himself a glare from Hawkgirl and a gloating look from Stone. "But we are the Justice League and, like my friend here said, we arrested this guy not too long ago. Since we're _all_ professionals here, we just want to make sure we know how and why he died. It's a sort of post-arrest thing we do."

Stone snorted. "Look, it ain't all that hard to figure out. There was a wreck between the squad car," he pointed at said car before he turned his finger to a nearby truck, "and that truck. A couple guys got out, dragged the victim out, and cut him up good. Bing, bam, boom, that's all there is to it."

Out of the corner of his eye, Flash saw Hawkgirl facepalm herself. "Sounds like a reasonable theory," he spoke hesitantly.

"It ain't a theory, that's what happened. Now get out of here."

"We just want to make sure." The young man sighed. "Look, we think someone called the Joker may be involved."

That was Flash's operating theory at the very least. How many people would purposefully carve a smile into another person, after all? That had been the first thought he had the moment he saw the Monocle's body and the chief reason he had contacted Bats.

Stone didn't seem to like that idea. "The Joker? Some freaking clown? You have to be kidding me."

"No jokes this time, I'm afraid."

The detective grunted. "I can't believe this. No way did some mental patient do this. Besides, that guy sticks to Gotham. He ain't got no reason to be out in Midway."

"Well, we just want to be sure. That's why we called in a specialist to take a quick look. He should be here any minute."

Stone's eyes narrowed. "What specialist?"

* * *

Batman surveyed the scene, his eyes narrowed behind his mask. Slowly he moved his head from right to left then back, making sure the cameras in his lens captured as much of the crime scene as he could. Once he was sure he had everything he could possibly get recorded, he began to circle the area, making sure to keep his head tilted to his right. This way he could get different angles in case his initial sweep missed anything.

Flash had done a decent job clearing the scene, following his orders to the letter. Police and forensic teams were standing by their vehicles, impatient looks on their faces. They probably felt pushed aside and they were right. However, they were more hindrance in this case and it was best to not let amateurs ruin what was left of the crime scene.

Yet, while most of the men and women were able to keep their mouths shut, or at least grumbled lowly to themselves and their co-workers, there was a bald detective that had no such qualm voicing his displeasure. " _This_ is your specialist," the man demanded at Flash, his face flushing red with anger. "Some dumbass in a Halloween costume?"

Flash actually kept his cool in the face of such outrage. "That's right. He's one of the best investigators I've ever met. I suggest you keep calm and let the man do his work too."

"That's our work! Ours! Now get that idiot out of there and let us do our fucking jobs!"

Due to his circling of the scene, Batman had approached the two men and felt it was in the best interest of everyone here that he put an end to this tirade. Stopping, he turned to face the officer and just stared, his face stoic. It took a moment, but eventually the bald man noticed Flash wasn't paying him attention—not to mention his follow officers were pointing him towards the vigilante—and he turned to look towards him.

"Oh, were you listening? Good, that'll save me my breath," the man groused as he walked towards the Dark Knight.

In response, Batman just hardened his stare, something that caused the police officer to slow down and eventually come to a stop. He was only a few feet away from the dark-clad man, so this gave him a good look at the officer's badge, one that stated DET. STONE.

"Detective Stone, is it?" he asked then, his voice calm.

That caused Stone to perk up. "So you know of me," he preened.

"Clinton Stone of the Midway PD, promoted to the rank of detective, involved with a few high-profile cases in the last three years, and father of two."

Stone smirked. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Tell me again how you let someone like Daniel Rubens off and pinned his murder of Sandra Evans on an innocent man."

That caused the detective to freeze. One of those high profile cases Batman had mentioned had involved the murder of a single mother, Evans. She had been found in a park, violated and strangled. A forensics team had determined a semen sample found at the scene belonged to Rubens; yet, Stone allowed the man to walk, believing the man's alibi and for whatever reason selected a random homeless man for the crime. Midway PD was still dealing with the fallout of that botched investigation.

Fortunately, Rubens had made the mistake of heading to Gotham following his departure of Midway. Intending on doing the same to another woman, he soon found himself in the custody of the GCPD with a mouthful of broken teeth and a leg that he would never be able to walk the same on again.

When Stone wasn't forthcoming with his answer, Batman closed the distance between them, shoving his face right in front of the detective's. Stone took a step back, a nervous expression on his face. "I'm waiting, Detective," he growled.

Again, Stone seemed to have swallowed his tongue. "If you have nothing to say, get back behind the barricade with the others. You're just wasting my time." With that, Batman spun around, his cape billowing out before it settled around his shoulders, enveloping his body.

"You heard the man," he heard Flash speak up then, "go chill with your buddies and let the professionals handle it from here."

Ignoring the other Midway PD members, Batman returned his attention to the crime scene, specifically the vehicles. He was quick to note the damage to the front of the truck and the side of the police cruiser, telling him the truck had broadsided the smaller car, most likely on purpose as well.

Moving to the police car, he saw an officer still seated in the driver's seat. It was obvious he was dead, killed in the crash. Finally, Batman brought himself to the body of what used to be Cheval. Ignoring the body, he examined the back passenger door, observing the cracked window along with some blood.

Cheval must have hit his head against the window during the crash, which meant he most likely wasn't in any shape to try and escape. Since the door was still open, someone—most likely the perpetrator—had opened it and pulled Cheval out. That wasn't even taking into account that the back doors of police cars could only be opened from the outside.

Looking down to the body, the Dark Knight noticed some blood was smeared on the side of the car, not to mention the ground looked as if it had been swiped. Cheval had tried to escape, but his injuries had prevented him from doing so.

At last, he began examining Cheval's body. Kneeling down, the first thing he looked at was the face. Immediately he stared at the mouth, cut marks extending out from either side of it to make a wider, bloody smile. A knife had been used and a serrated one at that. The tissue at the edges of the cuts were jagged rather than clean. And considering the amount of blood, the cuts had to have been made premortem.

Batman clinched his hands into fists. Cheval had been alive when he had been mutilated.

Moving down the body, he noticed the throat had been slashed as well, the edges jagged as well. This was most likely what killed Cheval in the end, once his torture was over. Continuing, he then observed blood stains on the shirt, but they appeared to be not only on the outside, but the inside as well. Further investigation would be needed. Continuing to look down Cheval, he then saw the legs, specifically the damage to the body's knees. He knew a gunshot wound on sight and there were was one in each knee. No wonder Cheval hadn't been able to flee.

There was gruesomeness to this scene; premeditated, yes, but it also had a sense of wild abandon. Someone had lost their temper.

Having catalogued all of the visible injuries, it was time to go searching for more. Reaching for Cheval's shirt, he began unbuttoning it, pulling it open once he able to.

Batman's jaw clenched. Words had been carved into Cheval's chest and abdomen, dried blood obscuring part of the message due to runoff. However, it didn't take too much imagination to figure out what was being said.

"No more interlopers," he read out loud, his voice low and soft. "Only two can dance and this is my dance."

This was a message, though it was clearly not for him. While Batman knew of Flash and Hawkgirl's suspicion that this was the Joker's handiwork, there wasn't much around that indicated the Joker was involved. Perhaps if he took ballistics on Cheval's knees and tried to narrow down what gun had destroyed the joints, he could maybe establish a more concrete link. The problem was that this entire scene lacked any of the Joker's calling cards: instead of Joker Venom, a smile had been ruthlessly cut into Cheval's face, something a copycat could have done too. There was also a distinct lack of weaponized gag toys as well. And while the Joker was adept with a knife, he didn't use it unless he had no other choice, not as a primary weapon.

And why would he go after Cheval at all? Cheval was too small time for such an effort. The Joker preferred a large audience, not some deserted road outside of a mid-sized city. The inconsistencies were too large to ignore.

Still, that message had been telling. The Joker did have a possessive streak in him. The vigilante knew the madman wanted his full attention. Was it possible that the confrontation at Cheval's house would have made the clown believe his attention was moving to someone else? If that was the case, then getting rid of Cheval would have ensured the Dark Knight and the Justice League were focused entirely on him. And if that message got out, it was telling anyone else that if they tried anything like Cheval, this would be their fate.

Because he had been staring at the words carved into Cheval's torso, Batman soon noticed a dark spot on the shirt. It wasn't blood and there seemed to be a definitive shape to it. Touching the spot, he quickly felt that it was indeed an object, one that was thin and bendable.

Flipping the shirt back on top of Cheval, the vigilante noticed the shirt had a pocket just above the chest. Slipping his hand into it, he pulled out what appeared to be a playing card, one that had been spared being stained by blood. Flipping it over in his hand, the face of the joker card met him, causing his eyes to harden.

He had been looking for a calling card, though he detested the fact that he found a literal one.

Instinctively, he pulled out a small plastic bag from his belt and slipped the card into it, sealing it, and placing the bag into the same pouch. Though he doubted it, there might be a lead on the playing card that could direct him to the Joker—all avenues had to be followed until proven otherwise.

Speaking of which, there was one last thing to check. Standing up, Batman walked over to the truck, heading right for the driver's door. Reaching it, he pulled the door open and once more began slowly panning his head from side to side, up and down. The cab was relatively clean, the remains of fast food wrappers and cups being tossed on the floor. So far though, there didn't seem to be much worth investigating.

Regardless, the vigilante made sure he was thorough. Checking the center console and glove box didn't provide much aside from an owner's manual and some loose change. It was very possible the vehicle was stolen, so he made a note to get the license plate number to run a check.

However, when Batman checked underneath the seats, he spotted something of worth. Reaching, he grabbed what felt like a pamphlet and pulled it out, discovering it to be a folded map. Unfolding it, he was quick to note there were scribbles and various markings on it.

Moving out of the cab, the dark-clad man moved to the hood of the truck and placed the map on top of it, spreading it out to its full size. In the left hand corner were the words "Midway, business and residential areas." So, this was a map of Midway. Scanning it, there were a few different locations that had been circled in red marker. Others had X's and some words written, mostly directions.

"Hawkgirl," he called out. He didn't bother to look away from the map, fully focused on it. That didn't mean he wasn't aware of the Thanagarian's approach, the winged woman coming to stand next to him.

"Can you tell me what are at these locations?" Batman asked her, pointing at the circled areas.

The redhead stared at them for a moment before she began pointing at each circle and naming them. "That's a pharmaceutical company, a shoe factory, a ghetto, shopping mall, amusement park—"

"Amusement park?" Batman interrupted.

"Yeah, or at least it used to be. Hasn't been in use for the last couple of years."

Backing up a couple steps, the vigilante looked at the license plate before he activated his comm link. "J'onn, this is Batman. I need you to run a trace on a license plate, X72 BD3."

The Martian was quick to respond. "Give me one moment, Batman." That requested moment grew into several before, "The plate numbers you gave me are registered to an Eric Border. No known address, but there appears to be an entry for his last employer."

"Is it an amusement park?" Batman interjected quickly.

"It is," J'onn replied, not the least bit taken back by the dark-clad man's tone. "Happy Times Amusement Park and Rides."

"That'll be all." Batman turned his attention to Hawkgirl, who was being joined by Flash and Diana. "We need to go to the Happy Times Amusement Park. That's where this truck is registered from and is likely where the Joker got it."

"So that's where we're going next," Flash spoke up, his entire body perking up.

The Dark Knight nodded. "It is. Time is of the essence, so one of you will have to fly me in."

"What about your Batwing?" Hawkgirl questioned, shifting her weight from one leg to the other, bending one at the knee. "I highly doubt you want to leave it in the hands of the MPD."

"I'll take care of that when we're airborne. For now, we need to move out."

* * *

J'onn stared at the giant Batcomputer, its light casting an eerie glow over him. There were multiple windows open, most, if not all, having being accessed from the JLHQ headquarters black box. There was a lot of data that needed to be reviewed and with the others indisposed of, J'onn felt it was up to him to begin this task.

He was fatigued, a result of his recovery from being shattered into an infinite number of pieces. His body hadn't recovered from that trauma fully, though it was making progress. It was because of this that he hadn't reformed his full Martian attire, opting only for his blue briefs. The rest would follow suit when he had enough strength to do so.

However, he was not alone in his endeavor. Off to his left and behind him was Batman's apprentice, who was carefully studying him. J'onn only sensed her presence and could only really guess her motives at this point.

It was strange really. In all of his travels, never had he met a mind quite like this young girl's. Most people thought in words and pictures, belying a distinct idea that was fairly easy to read. For this Batgirl though, her thoughts were of actions; it was simultaneously fascinating and alarming. He could not read her mind and immediately discover what she was thinking; this required further interpretation and the Martian was humble enough to admit that he wasn't able to gather a complete picture.

It didn't take much for him to come to the conclusion that something had been done to this girl.

J'onn knew Batman was aware of her condition—it was probably a big reason why he provided her a home. The man was too sharp not to have noticed the differences in her comprehension and learning faculties. In fact, if J'onn was not mistaken, Batgirl's language center was underdeveloped. She must have been deprived of speech through some sort of abuse.

The green-skinned man mentally shook himself. She was a puzzle for another time; right now his attention should be with understanding the reason for the Joker's attack on the Justice League headquarters.

In cases like this, it was best to review what was known. Bringing up the window for the teleporter, J'onn stared at the entry logs, noting the time Batman believed the Joker had trespassed into the building using Superman's authorization code. There were two, one right after the other, indicating when the Joker had left. There were also a couple other entries below those, ones J'onn identified as Batman and Wonder Woman's arrival at the HQ.

The Martian frowned then. There was one last entry into the logs, one belonging to Superman. Yet, if the Joker had left before Batman and Wonder Woman's arrival, why was there one more entry? Checking the time stamp, J'onn was quick to note that this final entry was made mere seconds before the destruction of the HQ.

Something was wrong.

J'onn immediately began typing on the keyboard, opening up yet another window. Entering a search protocol, he initiated it and watched as the supercomputer did its work. It took several minutes, but eventually a list of results appeared.

What the Martian wanted to know was what the Joker did while in the Justice League headquarters. So that prompted a search for where Superman's activation code was used during the time the Joker entered the building and when it was destroyed was his starting point. The first thing to jump out at him was the access of the teleporter's reactor core being tampered with. Following that was the access of various rooms throughout headquarters.

For once, J'onn found himself frowning. If this list was correct, then the Joker was ignorant of the JLHQ layout. Many of the rooms he went to held no significance that he could use. It was almost at random the places he searched.

Yet, there had to be a reason. Though he was believed to be insane, this man had shown an intellect that was more coherent than a first impression would indicate. There was always a motive, even if it wasn't obvious at first glance. So why would the Joker inspect storage rooms, the training room, the personal quarters of Hawkgirl, a room the Flash labeled as a janitor's closet—

"— _where he proceeded to a janitor's closet and made a batch of Joker Venom out of household cleaning products."_

The Martian widened his eyes. Was it possible the Joker had raided their supply of household cleaners so he could develop more Joker Venom? Or was he intending on making a new strain? The Joker's creativity was limitless at this point.

He had to inform Batman and the others as soon as possible. There was no telling what dangers awaited them.


	16. Happy Times Amusement Park And Rides

Hawkgirl was right—Happy Times Amusement Park and Rides was abandoned. The place was desolate with trash spewed all over the grounds. The rides sat in disuse, patches of rust scattered at various parts of the roller coaster, merry-go-round, and giant slide. The booths were empty of prizes, having long been packed up and shipped to a more popular attraction.

All this Batman saw through his binoculars. Crouched on a building a couple blocks away, he scanned the area for any sign of life, finding none. Behind him stood his fellow Leaguers, all of whom were waiting for his signal to converge. The occasional crunching of gravel beneath boot soles spoke to their growing impatience as they shifted their weight from one leg to another. Yet, despite the clear absence of anything remotely resembling life, there was one thing bugging the Dark Knight.

The lights were on.

Standing high above the park was stadium lighting and most of the bulbs were lit, shining a light over the attractions. While there were many of the bulbs that were dark due to dead bulbs, there was enough to brighten up the area.

Finishing his observation, Batman slowly stood up, pocketing his binoculars into a pouch on the back of his belt. This movement drew the attention of his comrades. "So what's the verdict, Bats?" Flash inquired.

Honestly, there wasn't much he could say. It was a trap? That was clearly obvious. The Joker was planning something? Again, obvious. So, he settled for, "Stay sharp. We stay together, no splitting up under any circumstance."

Turning around, he caught the others nodding their agreement. As if by a silent cue, Diana moved towards him, wrapping an arm around his back as he placed his over her shoulders. Hawkgirl merely floated up and placed her hands beneath Flash's arms. As one, the two women lifted the men up into the air and flew towards the amusement park.

The entire time Batman's eyes darted all over the place, looking for any sign of the Joker. The lights were already an invitation for them to come here, so the demented clown had to be close by. No way did he just leave some sort of booby trap and moved on. Taking Central City and Metropolis into consideration, there was something here that threatened the well-being of Midway.

A cool breeze blew by as the two teams began their descent, landing next to the merry-go-round. Take a step from Diana as he allowed his cape to encircle his shoulders, the vigilante glanced to the grime and rust-covered horse seats. Their fading eyes created a creepy vibe that matched the eeriness of the park.

Slowly, they began moving down the parkway, each member on high alert for movement or sound.

It was awhile before Batman did hear something, that being Flash's voice. "Hawkgirl? Where are you going?"

Turning his head, Batman saw the Thanagarian approaching a stand with a long pole extended upward, a bell at its top—the Strongman Attraction. Once she reached it, she picked up a large mallet, hoisting it up as she adjusted her grip on the shaft. Taking a couple practice swings with it, she seemed satisfied with it and returned to the Leaguers.

Upon seeing their collective gazes on her, she said, "I needed a weapon."

"Isn't that what your mace is for?" Flash responded before his eyes dropped to the winged woman's hips noticing an absence of said weapon. "Hey, where is your mace?"

Hawkgirl rolled her eyes as she leaned the mallet against her shoulder, its head extended above her own. "Superman crushed it, remember? I haven't had time to fix it and trust me, that's going to take a lot of time and work."

"Ah, got ya."

Suddenly, there was a chilling voice in the air.

" _Ha ha ha ha ha ha."_

Jerking his head to look in front of him, up ahead Batman caught sight of a figure, tall and lanky, but one he could recognize anywhere. The Joker stood there, his white face practically glowing in contrast to the dull, faded colors of the amusement park, both of his arms held behind him as he stood tall.

Batman's first instinct was to pull out one of his shuriken and send it flying at the clown's head. However, the distance between them would have given the Joker plenty of time to dodge it and continue to laugh that cruel laughter of his. However, in all of his confrontations with the madman, never had he faced him with others. That gave him options.

"Flash!" the dark-clad man barked. Instantly a red blur shot by him, racing towards the Joker as the distance between them vanished. A second later and Flash slammed his fist into the psychopath's head and cleanly removed it from his shoulders, his body jerking and falling backwards.

In any other situation, the vigilante would have been horrified at what the speedster had done. Decapitating another man was repulsive to him. Yet, even from where he stood, he could tell that hadn't been the real Joker; it was something else.

Quickly, he, Diana, and Hawkgirl rushed towards Flash, who was kneeling on the ground. The closer they got, the more Batman was able to discern that what he believed to be the Joker had actually been a cardboard cutout. Though he had known better, he felt a sense of relief well up within him, which caused him to slow his pace as he came to stand near the red-clad man.

Flash then looked up to them, holding the "head" of the cutout. On one side was the Joker's face, but attached on the other side was a small black box, most likely the source of the laughter—recorded laughter. "Okay, guys, I'm officially confused," the speedster spoke.

"You're not the only one," Hawkgirl agreed. She then turned to look at the vigilante and asked, "What do you make of this?"

Batman merely shook his head. "I'm not sure," he admitted. For some reason, he felt he was overthinking things here. The answer was most likely simple rather than the complexity that best described what the madman had done thus far.

" _Now that wasn't nice."_

Being as they were standing at a T-intersection, Batman and the others found themselves turning to look to a path on their right. A few booths down stood another cutout in the same pose as the one they stood over.

The Dark Knight resisted the urge to growl. The Joker knew they were here.

" _Here I go, inviting you fine people to my humble abode and what do you do? You start destroying my stuff. I thought your mothers taught you better,"_ the cutout lectured them.

Warily, the Leaguers began approaching the cardboard figure, slowly closing the distance between it and them with every cautious step they took. "Enough games, Joker," Diana ordered imperiously. "Surrender yourself at once."

" _Enough games? Then why are you perusing everything this carnival has to offer? I mean, all the games are out of prizes and there's not a single artery-clogging hot dog at the concession stand. Seems like a total waste of time to me."_

The four came to a stop in front of the cutout. "You know we're going to get you," Hawkgirl replied, adjusting her grip on her mallet. "Sooner or later, it's just a matter of time."

" _He he he ha ha!"_ the cutout giggled. " _Oh, I sincerely doubt that, Birdgirl. After all, I already got two of you. Care to make it three? Four? Ha ha!"_

"REEEAAAHHHH!" Hawkgirl roared as she leaped at the cutout, swinging her mallet as it hit the cardboard, ripping the upper body from the lower. The top piece of cardboard sailed through the air until it smacked against one of the booths, leaving the legs to wobble where they stood before they fell down and slapped down on the ground.

"When I found that psycho, that's exactly what I'm going to do to him," the Thanagarian growled, her shoulders rising and falling with her breathing, her body shaking from anger.

" _Tsk, tsk, manners, Birdgirl,"_ the voice box from the cutout taunted from where the head and upper body landed. " _Now_ _I'm going to have to teach you a lesson."_

That was the only warning they received before the piece of cardboard exploded into a ball of fire and smoke. The force of the unexpected blast knocked the four right off their feet, sending them crashing to the ground. Pieces of burnt wood and cloths rained down on them as the nearby stalls were blown to bits, leaving others on fire.

Thanks to the noise dampeners in Batman's cowl, he was spared the hearing issues from being right next to an explosion, though there was still a distinct ringing in his ears. He couldn't say the same about his comrades, however, as the three slowly tried to push themselves, always ending up collapsing back onto the ground. Their equilibriums were thrown off was obvious enough.

Gritting his teeth, Batman forced himself up, getting onto his feet despite a soreness making itself known in his body. Ignoring the feeling, the vigilante glanced around, making sure they were alone for the time being.

Seeing Diana trying again to get up, he stepped towards her and kneel down next to her. "Easy," he murmured gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. "The boom of the explosion has scrambled your equilibrium. It'll come back in time, but you need to take it slow."

Whether his words reached her or not, he wasn't sure, but he definitely noticed how the Amazon relaxed beneath his touch. "I feel like Count Vertigo has exposed me to his eye again," she groaned.

Holding his other hand out to her, Batman patiently waited for her to notice it, and when she did she placed her own hand in his. Carefully, he assisted her back onto her feet, the dark-haired woman pressing her free hand against her head. "I think I have a migraine," she complained.

"It'll pass," he reassured her before he dropped her hand, looking to the other two Leaguers. Unsurprisingly, Flash was getting back onto his feet, his recovery time much shorter than the other two due to his healing factor. And being the gentleman he was, he was at Hawkgirl's side, helping her up as well.

Returning his attention back to Diana, he moved right in front of her, staring into her eyes. Her eyes were adjusting to the light around him, removing any suspicion of dilation. Apparently she knew what he was looking for and gave him a small smile. "If you are looking for signs of a concussion, I do believe I missed out on those."

"Lucky you," Hawkgirl muttered loudly. "I'm definitely feeling foggy."

"Be glad that's all you're feeling," Batman retorted. "Had the Joker wanted to cause more damage, he could've loaded that bomb with shrapnel and tore us all up. Don't let him goad you like that, otherwise you won't be as lucky."

"So where too?" Flash asked, glancing around. "I don't see any of those cutouts of him anywhere."

"We go this way," Batman answered him, nodding in the direction away from the intersection. Not waiting for a response, the dark-clad man began walking, the others following behind.

As it turned out, they had indeed gone in the right direction. Soon they approached a Hall of Mirrors, another of the cutouts standing right in the doorway of the attraction. Batman narrowed his eyes at the sight. Clearly the green-haired man wanted them to go inside, otherwise why leave such an obvious trail of breadcrumbs to it? It would be in their best interest not to—

"Glad you made it!" the cutout exclaimed. "Come on in, the water's fine!"

And then it moved, disappearing inside the hall.

"That's really him!" Hawkgirl shouted before she began to charge. In fact, Flash and Diana had done the same, rushing towards the entrance.

"Damn it, stop!" Batman roared after them, to no avail. Giving chase, he was the last one to enter the Hall of Mirrors, though thankfully he could still see the other three. If Flash had used his super speed, there would have been no telling where he would have ended up.

Currently they were in a hallway, one that ended with a curtain at its far end. "Don't take another step," Batman hissed, earning him the attention of the heroes as they turned their heads to look at him. Reaching them, he demanded , "How many times do I have to tell you not to act rashly?"

"We are literal feet behind this guy," Hawkgirl shot back. "We capture him and this is all over."

"It's not that easy," he warned.

"Sure it is," she retorted before grabbing the curtain and ripping it to a side. The sight that greeted them was of a winding maze of mirrors, a distinct lack of the Joker being present. Unsure of what to do, the Thanagarian edged into the labyrinth, her reflection suddenly appearing on every mirror in sight.

"You were saying?" Batman prodded.

Hawkgirl merely glared at him before she began walking forward, keeping her guard up as she held her mallet in front of her. One by one they entered the maze, their respective reflections joining the redhead's, creating a chaotic sight all around them.

It wasn't helped at all by the different angles of the mirror glass. Some reflections made them appear tall and thin while others made them short and fat. Others exaggerated their features, such as one that made their heads, shoulders, hips, and legs wide and large while leaving their waists a thin as a straw. There was one that made their heads appear smaller than the rest of their body and another that did the reverse. It was quite disoriented to see.

"You know, I used to like places like this," Flash nervously commented, his head moving from side to side as he looked at all of the variations of himself. "But right now I'm getting the heebie-jeebies. Is that happening to anyone else?"

" _Did someone say heebie-jeebies?"_

Suddenly, one of the mirrors changed its reflection, replacing it with the Joker.'s His signature smile was on his pale face, his pointed nose practically twitching. _"I can't tell you how happy that makes me feel. I mean, I've been trying so hard to do that and it isn't easy to do that to you hero types."_

That was when Hawkgirl let out an enraged as she leaped at the mirror, swinging her mallet as she did so. Her weapon slammed onto the glass, shattering it, and sending shards flying in all directions.

" _Now, now, you shouldn't have done that,"_ the Joker's voice said, his tone condescending. Another mirror soon replaced its reflection again with the mad clown's. _"Didn't your mother ever tell you that breaking a mirror is seven years bad luck?"_

Then, as if to antagonize the Thanagarian further, multiple mirrors began reflecting misshapen Jokers. _"But if seven isn't enough for ya, care to go for two hundred seventeen?"_

"Haaaa!" Hawkgirl roared as she launched herself at the mirrors, swinging her hammer over and over, destroying the reflected Jokers one by one.

"That's enough, Sister!" Diana cried out as she held her arms up, shielding her face from any flying shards.

Batman was doing the same only with his cape hanging from his outstretched arm, the cloth doing a much better job than his arm could ever do. This venture of there's was going downhill in a hurry. If they didn't reign Hawkgirl in quickly, there was no telling what would happen.

So of course, that's when J'onn called.

" _Batman, it's the Martian Manhunter. I have some worrisome news."_

 _No kidding?_ the vigilante groused in his head. No doubt the Martian sensed his annoyed thoughts even through the mic rather than telepathically. Still, he needed to at least respond. "Now isn't a good time, J'onn," he replied.

" _I will be brief. I was going through the black box as you requested and discovered the Joker accessed several rooms throughout the building. I believe he obtained some of our cleaning agents from the room we stored them."_

Batman was about to dismiss the warning, seeing no reason why this information was important before J'onn's words really sank in. The Joker, household products—Joker Venom.

"We have to get out of here, _now!_ " he barked at the others, earning him the attention of Diana and Flash as they jerked their heads around to stare at him. The only one he didn't have was Hawkgirl's, who was fully intent on smashing each and every mirror around them as she darted from one side of the corridor to the other.

That was when he heard a sound, one that came from somewhere above him. Jerking his arm down as he looked up, the Dark Knight was just in time to see the sprinkler heads extend out from their place in the ceiling, a white gas suddenly spraying out from them.

 _Goddamn it._

There wasn't any time to react. One moment they were surrounded by flying glass, the next the white gas enveloped them all. J'onn's warning was blaring in the vigilante's mind even as he began coughing harshly and hoping against hope that he could fight off the urge to laugh long enough so he could pull out a syringe of Joker Venom antidote to dose himself.

However, that urge never came. Having worked in a lab with the vile toxin, Batman had noticed a distinct odor from it; right now, he wasn't smelling that scent. In fact, if he wasn't mistaken, there wasn't any smell at all. This was less a toxin and more of a smoke.

 _Why?_ It didn't make sense. They were in a vulnerable position, what better time than to eliminate what was left of the League? Yet, the only thing this smoke could do is disorient them at best.

Glancing up, the first thing he was noticed was that he could barely see the person in front of him, only their silhouette being visible. An instant later he realized that was the gas' purpose: a smoke screen.

Immediately he lunged forward, shooting a hand out and grabbing a wrist. Considering how bulky and cool to the touch it was, he could only assume he had grabbed Diana by her bracer. "Stay close!" he shouted even as he pulled closer to her and began making out more of her features. She was looking to him now thankfully, her eyes red from the smoke irritating them. "Don't let anyone out of sight."

Immediately, the Amazon moved, though she didn't go far. As far as Batman could tell, she had reached out and grabbed onto Flash's arm, pulling the red-clad man closer to them. Unfortunately, he was too far back to see if Flash reciprocated that action with Hawkgirl.

Craning his head up, he searched for the woman, knowing she had to be somewhere up ahead. More troubling was that he wasn't hearing the sound of her demolishing more mirrors. Of course she would have stopped to resist the smoke in case it was laced with something, but he couldn't even hear her gagged coughs.

 _Where the hell is she?_

* * *

Hoarsely, Shayera coughed and gagged. Out of nowhere, this suffocating gas had sprayed down on her and her friends and now she found herself stumbling forward, her feet crunching down on broken glass with every step she took, an arm extended out, reaching for anything that she could steady herself against. She just needed a minute to clear her head and lungs and get control of herself. If only she could do that.

Glancing around herself, her eyes welling up with tears to soothe the irritation they were most definitely feeling, the Thanagarian found that she couldn't see Flash, Diana, or even Batman. Where the hell were they?

"Flash? Diana?" she called out as she took another step. "Where are you?"

Suddenly, the floor beneath the winged woman's feet vanished and Shayera found herself falling. Letting out a yelp of surprise, she felt her back press up against something smooth and cool. She was still moving through, and going at an increasingly faster pace. It was like she was on some sort of slide, one that was at a near-vertical angle.

And then she felt her weight press harder onto the slide as the angle changed, her body suddenly jerking from side to side as the slide took a sudden twist, then a turn. She even found herself spinning in a spiral, rendering her unable to do anything to stop this crazy ride. The entire time she was screaming, not from fear mind you, but from surprise. There was no telling how far she had been going down this slide, but she felt the urge to do something to stop it.

And then the slide went into a near-vertical drop again, going on for several moments before it curved horizontally. This curve sent her flying sideways right off of its metal surface and the next thing she knew, her body hit something hard. Her body ricocheted out of it, the Thanagarian tumbling through the air until she hit the floor, bouncing off of it a couple times until she began rolling over and over until she came to a stop.

Lying there, it was a while before Shayera let out a groan before she began to shift around. Looking up, she found herself in some sort of cement room. No wonder she had felt like she hit something hard; she must have crashed into one of the walls when she first entered the room. Glancing around, she saw a hole in the wall, one that formed a perfect square. That must have been her entry point here, wherever that was.

"Eh hem, hem, hem," a voice suddenly coughed, an attempt to clear one's throat. Whipping her head around, she found an entire side of the room was transparent—either glass or some form of fiberglass. On the other side of this glass stood the Joker, standing ramrod straight, a hand holding out an open book as the other thumbed its way through a few pages.

"Now that I have your attention, I've always wanted to try this," the madman said before he spoke in a high falsetto, "Dear diary, Superman looked at me again. I thought I was going to orgasm right then and there, but I barely managed to keep it in as I confidently said 'hi.'"

Shayera bared her teeth as she forced herself on her feet. Her right hand flexed instinctively, tightening into a fist rather than around the shaft of her weapon. That was the first moment she realized she had lost her hammer since entering this place.

That did nothing to stop the Joker's mindless prattle. "Pardon me, that wasn't in this lovely book. I was taking some artistic liberties," he apologized, looking sincere—for him. "Now, for what it really says: Entry data seven dash sixteen dash thirteen, I've just had the misfortune of nearly laughing my lungs up after being exposed to this strange gas."

The Thanagarian froze upon hearing those words. "Where did you—?" she gasped.

"Get this lovely book?" the Joker finished for her. "Why, where else would I get it from, silly? Your boudoir, of course. Ya see, I had this question and I thought that if I went into that room of yours, I might get an answer. That's where I happened upon this fine piece of literature of yours. I must say, you have pretty neat handwriting, my dear, but it did nothing to answer that mystery of mine.

"What do women want?"

The goads aside, Shayera could feel her stomach dropping. That was her personal log, containing information that she had collected throughout her stay on Earth. She had hidden it in a secure safe in the room assigned to her at the JLHQ, figuring that was the safest place for it to be. Now that animal had his disgusting hands on it and there was no telling how much he had read.

"What have you read?" she hissed lowly as she began to inch herself to the glass barrier.

"Only want interested me," the green-haired man replied. "Though I will admit I was hoping to find some good gossip—things like what underwear Flyboy wears, if Miss American Model was swinging for the other team, or what celebrity crushes you all had. Nothing too important when compared to school shootings and that one guy who refused to sell me that jelly-filled donut I had been eyeing."

But then a smirk appeared on his pale face. "So tell me, do your buddies in your clubhouse know what you've been up to?"

 _Shit!_ He knew! He had to know everything! Shayera grounded her teeth together. She needed to get her logbook back.

"Oh, what's with that look? Can't you tell I'm teasing you?" the Joker suddenly declared, causing the redhead to look at him bewilderingly. "All you hero-types are so uptight. You always have some sort of secret floating around and all it takes is for someone to hint at it for your to tighten that butthole of yours."

Did...did he not know? Chances were he did and he was playing coy with her. Regardless, she had to make sure he never uttered a word of what he read from that book.

"Now, now, calm yourself down. You are a guest of mine and I am a terrific host if I don't say so myself. Why, you _must_ be hungry, especially after I blew up your clubhouse kitchen. How about I feed you?"

The Joker shut the book, before dropping it to the floor next to him. Raising his hands up, the psychotic clown sharply clapped his hands twice in rapid succession. The next thing Shayera knew, she heard the squeal of hinges protesting, causing her to look up. A crease had appeared right down the middle of the ceiling and it was growing wider. And as it did so, a dark mass fell down on top of her.

The force of the mass hitting her crushed her down onto the floor, a cry escaping her lips. Through cracked eyes she stared forward when she noticed an avalanche of bugs rushing passed her.

 _Oh dear God._

"Mmmmm, that's some good grub!" the Joker exclaimed, his face and hands pressed up against the glass as he watched the Thanagarian be smothered by the growing piles of insects. "I had them specially imported just for you, since you're a bird and all and birds eat bugs. C'mon, don't be shy! Eat 'em up, eat 'em up, go Birdgirl, go!"

Unfortunately for Shayera, she was being swallowed up by the mountain of bugs until she vanished from sight. The sheer weight was keeping her pinned to the ground, no matter how much she struggled. Even worse, her mind was burning with fear as the enclosed space she felt began suffocating her. Her breathing quickened and became more shallow as she began to hyperventilate, her brain screaming how there was no escape, no air for her lungs. Rational thought was fleeing her as images of her partial-devoured corpse was found days, if not weeks later by investigators searching for a missing person.

She...she was going to die here.

 _NO!_ Frantically, the winged woman began to thrash as much as she could, her arms and legs flexing as her wings extended up and out, but it was to no avail. She was trapped, helpless, and the rest of the League had no idea where she was. She screamed, or at least tried to, but even her voice was muffled by the bugs and insects that swarmed around her.

That didn't stop her muffled cries from coming forth.

* * *

When I was planning this story out, I used my regular co-author of this series, Anonymous Void, to bounce ideas off of. The mountain of bugs was one of his ideas, but at the time I doubted I would use it. Then, the idea of the amusement park came up and I found the right circumstance to actually use his idea. Hoped you liked it AV!


	17. Asking For Forgiveness

For anyone who did not receive a response for their review, there's a glitch occurring with FFN. I'm receiving alerts to the review, but the reviews themselves aren't appearing on the review page, so I'm unable to respond to them. Once things are fixed, I will be sending a reply. Until then, I hope you enjoy the next chapter.

* * *

Flash's arms were a spinning blur, one that was blasting a powerful wind that blew away the smoke screen. Mere seconds passed before the small group was able to see mirrors around them, many of which were broken with glass shards scattered all over the floor.

More importantly though, was the lack of Hawkgirl.

Batman clenched his jaw tightly. He had expected a trap and they had sprung it gloriously. He had been a fool to think safety in numbers would protect them from another attack, especially when they all were purposefully goaded at their most sensitive areas. Hawkgirl's absence was just proof of that.

"Hawkgirl?" Diana called out as she began walking further into the damaged room. Her eyes were searching for any sign of the Thanagarian, even if it were in vain.

"Wings? Where are ya?" Flash joined her, moving out as well. The sound of crunching glass filled the room with every step they took, coupled with their constant calls for their missing comrade.

Batman, in the meantime, began searching for a way out. Sure there was the way they came, but there had to be another exit point. No way would the Joker lead them in here only to trap himself with them.

"Guys, I'm not seeing her anywhere," Flash spoke with growing alarm in his tone. "She couldn't have gone too far. I mean, she was just in front of us!"

"We'll find her," Diana replied, a confidence in her voice that with either genuine, or disguising her own anxiety. The vigilante wasn't sure which, but it didn't matter. It would be counterproductive to try and figure out how the Amazon was feeling, especially when every second was precious.

Weaving his way between a few unbroken sets of mirrors, the Dark Knight came to an abrupt stop. He had finally found an actual wall—one not composed of mirrors—and more importantly there was a doorway. "Diana, Flash," he called out just as he began making his way to the door. The growing sound of footsteps told him his comrades were heading his way.

Reaching the door, Batman grabbed the doorknob and gave it a twist, opening the door as it swung outward. It was then the two Leaguers joined him, coming to a stop behind the dark-clad man. Turning his head to look at them, he said, "I believe we have a lead."

Without another word, the three passed through the doorway, Batman leading the way and Flash bringing up the rear. The first thing they found was a staircase that lead downwards. Carefully, they descended the stairs, the vigilante on high alert for any boobytraps. If there was ever a place for one, this was it.

One flight of stairs became two, then three, four, five, and yet there hadn't been a single trap sprung. It was baffling and worrisome to the Dark Knight; it was also another puzzling piece of whatever the clown was up to.

Now that was something to consider. Throughout this entire ordeal, the Joker seemed to jump between mentally shaking the Justice League to flat out killing them. There was no set pattern unless you considered each attack went by the Joker's whim. One day he wanted to pull a catastrophic prank, the next he obliterated two powerful Justice League members in one fail swoop. Now they had a dead socialite and Hawkgirl was currently MIA. While the former was obviously trying to get the League's attention and lead them here, the latter completely ignored the precarious position they had been where simply filling up the Hall of Mirrors with Joker Venom would have ended them all. Something else was afoot, that much Batman was sure about.

It was after descending a sixth flight of stairs that they finally reached the bottom, a door greeting them at the final landing. Moving to it, Batman opened it and found himself entering a room. Looking to his left, he came to a full stop as he stared at a mountain of insects, many of which were crawling away from the pile and stretching out across the floor.

"Holy Bugfest, Batman!" Flash exclaimed the moment he entered the room, earning the red-clad man a blank stare from said vigilante. Flash merely pointed and said, "That's a lot of bugs."

"I noticed," Batman replied dryly, returning his sights to the rest of the room. Aside from the insects, there wasn't much to look at.

Diana, however, felt differently. Stepping forward, she ignored the crunching sound of bugs beneath her boots as she moved to whatever had captured her interest. Coming to a stop, she knelt down and reached to touch something on the floor. "Someone was dragged," she declared.

Frowning, Batman walked over to the Amazon and looked down at what she was examining. A trail of what looked like spattered bug insides emerged from the pile of bugs and made a turn towards a doorway on the opposite side of the room. Broken exoskeletons of the insects allowed internal organs and goo to be spilled over the floor.

More importantly though, Diana was holding a slime-covered feather in between her fingers, spinning it this way and that as she observed it. Though it was tainted with slime, it looked like a feather that belonged to Hawkgirl's wings.

Tearing her attention away from the feather, Diana looked up to the Dark Knight, a questioning expression on her face. "Do you think…?" she trailed off.

"It's possible," Batman admitted. If Hawkgirl had indeed been here, it seemed as if she had been buried beneath the pile of wiggling bugs, then pulled out of it and dragged away. It was a more preferable state of affair than the Thanagarian being dead.

"So what are we waiting for?" Flash asked, standing next to them all of a sudden. "Let's follow this trail and see where it leads us."

Glancing up to the door, Batman was more than inclined to do what the speedster said. However, he couldn't help but think how easy it had been for them to find this place. They had gotten here too easily, as if they had been allowed to.

Perhaps it was time to be more prudent.

"One second," he responded then, pulling out his grapple gun and aiming it at the door. Firing it, he watched as the claw flew through the air and collided with the doorknob, causing it to rattle from the force of the collision.

Instantly, the door blew up, sending pieces of it flying in all directions. Even more alarming was the rush of a cloud of green gas pouring into the room. "Get out!" Batman ordered even as he was retracting the remains of his grapple line, already backing away from the approaching gas.

Flash was already gone, having raced out the way they had come. Diana was on her feet as well, hurrying to the open doorway. Batman was right behind her, having completed his retrieval of his grapple. The claw was gone, having been destroyed in the explosion, which left the burnt end of the cable at the grapple's mouth. Pocketing the device, he went into a full out run, dashing through the threshold and grabbing onto the open door. Swinging it, he slammed the door closed and began leaping up the stairs two at a time. Even as he spun on the first landing to go up the second flight, he could see the Joker Venom beginning to leak through the crack at the bottom of the door.

Though it was alarming, there was no real need to rush his way up the stairs. The closed door impeded most of the gas, reducing its spread greatly. If he wanted to, the vigilante could walk his way out of the Hall of Mirrors and not be touched by the toxin.

However, there was work to do now. The Joker had Hawkgirl, that much was certain. Whether she was alive or not remained to be seen, but it definitely spoke to a greater plan on the madman's part.

It was finally time to figure out what that was.

* * *

The engine powered down a moment after the plane landed. Batman could hear a dying whine as the computer systems shut off, the canopy sliding forward and releasing the pressurized air from the cockpit. Hauling himself out and dropping to the ground below, the vigilante began trudging from the landing pad, across a catwalk, and onto the central plateau that was the center of the cave.

Hanging around the supercomputer was the rest of the Justice League. J'onn was sitting in the chair, most of his uniform on save for the cape. Flash was leaning his backside against the console as Diana stood to the left of the chair. He had ordered the latter two to head back to the cave while he brought up the rear. There was no need for them to take their time due to his jet being so much slower than they were. He had stayed in radio contact with J'onn in the event something happened.

Nothing had obviously, which led them to their current predicament. It seemed the Martian wanted to start their little meeting as he was the first one to speak. "I understand Hawkgirl has been taken prisoner," his stoic voice announced into the cave.

"That's correct," Batman replied as he came to a stop in front of the other three. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Cassandra in her Batgirl regalia, watching the four of them silently. "For what purpose, I'm not sure."

"It does seem strange," J'onn agreed with him. "His previous actions seemed to indicate the elimination of the League. Perhaps he is changing tactics?"

"Or maybe he's going to Jokerize Wings and set her on us like he did Big Blue," Flash suggested.

Now there was a possibility he had overlooked. "Flash makes a good point," Batman acknowledged, "but until we have positive confirmation, we can't assume anything as of now."

Flash blew air out of his mouth as he tilted his head to look up at the ceiling. "Man, this bites," he groaned. "All this time and we still have no idea what the Joker is after." He leaned his head forward to look at the Dark Knight again. "Was it like this the first time you went up against him?"

"Pretty much, except there was a lot more collateral damage."

The red-clad man raised an eyebrow. "More than two separate cities getting demolished?"

"The body count was higher."

"Perhaps we should shelve such talk," Diana suggested before she turned her attention to J'onn. "Have you been able to uncover anything from the black box?"

The Martian slowly nodded his head. "I believe I have." At this he turned the chair to face the computer and brought up a window. Batman was quick to notice it was of the teleporter logs. "As you can see, the teleporter was used frequently right before League Headquarters was destroyed."

Indeed, the vigilante could see the multiple uses, right from where the Joker was believed to have entered to his and Diana's return. His eyes narrowed then. There was—

"Right after Diana and Batman returned with Superman, there was one last teleportation just before the building blew up," J'onn narrated. "It is possible this is when the Joker actually left, though it doesn't account for one earlier use before our return."

Batman moved closer to the console, worming his way between Diana and the chair as he came to stand in front of the computer. "Computer: search for locations the teleporter transported people from," he ordered.

Immediately, flashes of light filled the cave as the computer processed the command. "Is there something you'd like to share with the rest of the class?" Flash asked as he took a step away from where he was leaning so that he could turn around and face the large monitor.

"I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier, but I'm trying to see where the Joker had himself transported from," Batman answered him, his eyes never moving away from the screen. Soon, a new window opened up with the results. Eyeing it, it became apparent that the Joker had teleported in from Metropolis, most likely the factory he had been hiding out in.

"Well, that didn't do much," Flash groused.

"It at least confirmed how the Joker knew we would be absent though," J'onn spoke up. "He most likely watched Superman destroying the city until we arrived."

Before that line of thinking could continue, Batman interrupted as he pointed at the last entry. "Look," he ordered, drawing the other heroes' attention back to the screen. "The very last entry, the last use of Superman's access code shows the last use of the teleporter was to transport someone from the med bay."

That caused the others to perk their heads up. "Why would the Joker do that?" Flash asked in bewilderment.

"More importantly is the people that were in the med bay," Diana interjected as she took a step closer to the monitor. "Superman and John were in there."

"Which means they could have been teleported out moments before the explosions," J'onn finished for her.

"Which means they could still be alive?!" Flash practically shouted. "Oh man! That's great! That—"

"Puts them right into the hands of the Joker," Batman interrupted the speedster. "At the very least we know they're still alive since he went to the effort of kidnapping Hawkgirl. He must still have some plans for them."

"And us," Diana added. "It stands to reason that he'd want to capture us all as well."

"However you look at it, it's still good news," Flash argued. "I mean, we just went from thinking Supes and GL were dead to them possibly being alive. I don't know about the rest of you, but I think that's a cause for celebration."

"No one is arguing that," J'onn replied as he turned the chair to look to the young man. "Unfortunately, this speaks to a much larger plan in play, one we haven't begun to make any headway."

"Well, that's one way to look at it if you wanted to be a Negative Nancy."

That caused J'onn and Diana to look at the red-clad man in confusion. "Who is Nancy?" the Amazon asked, "and why is she considered to be negative?"

And they were getting sidetracked. Let them, Batman had other thoughts running in his head. J'onn was right in that there was some hidden agenda, but unfortunately the only person that knew what that was was a man with a sadistic streak a mile wide. The Joker had been playing things close to the vest, with a precision that was astonishing as much as it was troubling. Everything needed to be working in his favor, be it a situation he engineered, or just dumb luck. The biggest risk he had taken so far was revealing himself at the amusement park, trusting that Flash wouldn't capture him in a nanosecond the moment he poked his head out. He must have known they wouldn't have willingly separated themselves, yet he had created a situation where he managed to slip Hawkgirl out of sight, then out of the park entirely, leaving Joker Venom in his wake to discourage pursuit.

This was nothing like his old pattern.

However, just because they knew where he had been, that didn't mean they couldn't figure out where he was going. Chances were the Joker was taking Hawkgirl right where Superman and Green Lantern were. And since he had the use of a teleporter, he could've sent the latter two to any destination he wanted. What better way than to where he wanted them anyways?

"Computer: identify destinations inputted into the teleporter," the dark-clad man commanded, silencing the others as they turned their attention back to the computer.

It was a few seconds before the results were presented and Batman found himself narrowing his eyes at the very last entire. "Gotham," he growled lowly.

He should have known. With the Joker, if he was planning on a climax, the final punchline, it was going to have to be in Gotham. It meant that the green-haired man intended on saving the vigilante for last in this game he was playing.

Well then, it was time to put an end to this sooner than the Joker planned.

"Computer: trace current location of Justice League access code belonging to Hawkgirl."

If he wasn't mistaken, Hawkgirl still had her communication device on her. He hadn't seen it discarded in that room with the bugs—that wasn't to say it hadn't been knocked out and was still there—so if it was indeed on her, it would still be broadcasting a signal, which the supercomputer would be able to pick up and lead them right to where the Joker was going. Waiting, the flashes of light from the monitor lit up the cave until finally a new window appeared containing a map of Gotham.

On the map was a red dot and it was moving through the west side of the city, heading south and east. Reaching a hand to the keyboard, he tapped one of the keys to zoom in the dot, always keeping it in frame.

"Man, why didn't we try this earlier?" Flash inquired as he watched the red dot's movement. "We could've intercepted this guy in route."

"Perhaps," Batman agreed with him. "But if we want to recover Superman and Green Lantern as well, we need to know where the Joker is going."

"Oh, that's a good point."

As minutes began to pass by and the red dot continue to move, Batman began glancing at his teammates. Each one had been hit hard by the Joker's attacks—Flash unwittingly Jokerizing Central City, J'onn being shattered into pieces by Superman, and Diana witnessing the destruction and possible deaths of comrades-in-arms. They were clearly emotionally invested in this, a mindset he knew from experience was dangerous. Would they be able to handle what other traps and psychological tortures awaited them at the Joker's hideout?

His brain told him that they were professionals and would be able to face whatever deathtraps were thrown their way.

His gut told him otherwise.

Straightening out his posture, the vigilante earned himself the attention of the group, their collective heads turning towards him. "I'm going to restock. Be ready when I get back." Turning away from them, Batman strode away from the supercomputer, heading towards another part of the cave. Locating a crevice, he entered it, finding himself traversing a naturally-formed corridor. As he reached the end, he found a man-made vault, a keypad off to the side.

Entering a code on the keypad, the vault door made a hissing sound as air escaped through it, right before the large door swung open. Through the threshold, the vigilante found himself in his armory. There was a small table in the middle of the room, which the dark-clad man unbuckled his belt and placed it on top of.

The next few minutes were spent collecting shuriken, smoke pellets, flashbang grenades, and other devices he expected to use. He made sure to bring a couple spare grapples considering his luck lately with them.

Despite his focus on reloading his belt, Batman was fully aware of a presence approaching the vault door and entering the room. "What are our chances for success?" Diana asked, her voice coming from behind him.

"About like they usually are," he replied to her, not bothering to turn and address the dark-haired woman. She didn't seem perturbed by this like she would've been not too long ago.

"This isn't like the other times though," she was quick to point out. "Most of the people we go up against are for conquest and subjugation. We've been treating the last few days as such, that there's a villain we simply need to defeat. But this is different and because of this we have been hurt in ways we're not used to. That must be taken into consideration."

"You're right," Batman agreed, finally stopping what he was doing and turning to face the Amazon. "All of us have had our emotions used to devastating effect against us."

"So how do we get around this?" Diana pressed, taking a step towards him. "We need to think of something different, some angle we can use that the Joker won't see coming."

She was right in that regard. Everything they had done from partnering up to staying in groups had failed. The Joker had managed to separate them regardless of their intent and even captured a few despite having superpowers. With emotions ruling the League, it seemed something else entirely would need to be done.

He paused as he thought of possible solutions, continuously coming to one. It was the only one he knew for certain would keep the Justice League safe, though there would be resistance.

"I think I may have something we could use," Batman said, Diana perking her head up at this. "I'm almost through here. Meet me back at the computer."

Diana smiled at him as she nodded her acceptance. Spinning around, she walked out of the armory, the Dark Knight watching her leave.

Several moments passed before Batman called out, "You can come out now."

Dropping from the ceiling, Cassandra landed on the floor silently, her cape settling around her. She had done her best to follow him and keep herself out of sight. She might have succeeded too, had he not heard Diana coming.

Speaking of whom, this did present an opportunity. Looking at his protege, an idea was forming in his head.

* * *

The rest of the League was waiting by the supercomputer, just like he expected. The screen showed the dot was still moving, though considering the heroes were now staring at the approaching vigilante, their visible eagerness was definitely aimed towards him.

"So Wondy says you have some special weapon we can use?" Flash inquired, his body practically shaking in place.

"Something like that," Batman replied as he reached them. "Over by the dinosaur—" at this he paused to glare the speedster down before he could even utter a word about the T-Rex "—there's another vault. Inside are a number of suits I've developed that should protect us from anything the Joker can think of."

"So you just happened to have these things lying around? Just waiting for something like this to happen?"

"I made them in case someone like Despero decided to invade again," the dark-clad man retorted.

"A wise policy," J'onn remarked.

"Considering how you three already know your way around here, you should have no trouble getting in. The code is 17459. Get in, pick out a suit, and meet me back here."

Flash's eyes lit up. "Trusting us with the goodies you keep in your Batcave? Alright!"

The sour look on Batman's face spoke towards the opposite. "We don't have a lot of options right now."

"Come, Flash, it's best we do what is needed," the Martian interjected then, standing at his full height. Walking, he led the way towards the T-Rex, Flash following him a moment later.

That just left Diana standing in front of him. "What about you? Aren't you going to change your suit?" she asked.

"My current suit should be enough," he grunted in response. "Though there is something in the car I'll be needing."

"Very well." The Amazon approached him then, reaching a hand up to clasp it against his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "We won't be long."

Then, as if on a whim, Diana closed in on him, wrapping her arms around him. Batman didn't move, allowing the dark-haired woman to embrace him. He was honestly a little surprised by the action, unsure how to react other than just stand there. The feeling was foreign to him. Eventually she pulled away, standing within arm's reach with a mischievous look on her face. It seemed she was very aware of his lack of response and was taking it with good humor. "For good luck," she explained, though she had no need to.

The corner of his mouth tugged upwards. That was about the only response she was going to get and her own widening smile indicated her knowing of this. For a moment Batman felt he should say something, but that opportunity left as Diana then took her leave, making to catch up with the other two heroes.

That's when Batman's smile dropped, the vigilante looking up to the computer screen. As it so happened, Joker had continued heading east into the city, stopping his southerly journey at some point, the red dot blinking on one spot continuously. It was somewhere in the Industrial Area, a building he wasn't quite familiar with. Even if this didn't involve the Joker, there was no telling what dangers awaited him there, more so with the madman running the show.

Hitting a few keys, he powered down the supercomputer before he turned away and walked towards the car. He spared a glance to the T-Rex, seeing neither Diana, J'onn, or Flash. Reaching the car, the canopy slid open and he hoped in. Turning on the engine, it rumbled to life; with any luck, the others were in the vault, and unable to react to the roaring car. Hitting the accelerator, the car shot forward, racing down the curved trail and entering the tunnel soon after.

With everything going on, this was something the Dark Knight needed to do on his own. The Justice League was not ready for a fight like this and perhaps never were. They were used to fighting monsters and aliens, not men with the capacity for evil that the Joker was capable of. With this psychopath, it was a fight that either ended with a few scars, or one you died fighting.

He had already done the latter.

Batman wasn't going to let the same happen to the others. When Diana had expressed the need to do something different, she had definitely been right. Staying with the others hadn't worked; perhaps it was time for him to go off on his own and use his own expertise at apprehending the clown. Trying to explain it to the League had not worked; having them fight against the Joker was putting them two steps behind at every turn. The strain of these attacks were doing a number on them, slowly driving them into irrational decisions.

It wasn't a matter of if they would react much like Hawkgirl did in Midway—it was a matter of when. And when they made that ill-fated decision, they would be captured, or worse. It was strange, but this was the same cycle he had gone through the first time the Joker attacked Gotham. With each situation that cropped up, Batman had slowly sunk into grief and devastation. While there was a possibility Hawkgirl, Superman, and Green Lantern were still alive, that wasn't the case with Alfred and he was still dealing with the man's absence every day.

If Batman ever saw the others again, he hoped they would understand what he was doing. Asking for forgiveness, well, that just wasn't something he did.


	18. Into The Steel Mill

As instructed, there was another vault beyond the giant dinosaur. Diana had managed to catch up with J'onn and Flash just as the latter was punching in the entry code onto the keypad. There was a sharp _beep!_ in response before the door opened, a hissing sound being made as air rushed in through the newly-made opening.

The door didn't completely open and J'onn took the time to push it the rest of the way, allowing the three to enter. The first thing Diana saw was rows of black sets of armor. They were all similar to each other save for a few differences here and there. Along with the armor though, was a cape and cowl, the familiar bat ears indicating just what these were. Each set was in its own protective case, separating them from all the others.

"Dude, Bats has a lot of spares," Flash remarked, staring at them all with wide eyes.

That was an accurate statement. Slowly, Diana began walking through the room, her eyes searching through all the Batsuits. The more attention she gave each one, the more she could pick out the differences between them. For instance, there was one that had gloves rather than the gauntlets Batman was known to wear. Also, there was a lack of the Bat emblem on the chest. It was as if it were an early version of the suit.

Next came a few suits that were nearly identical save from a difference in the length of the ears and the design of the plating of the armor. In fact, if the Amazon wasn't wrong, these suits were all the same size, something that caused her eyes to narrow.

Where were the suits Batman had promised? This was where he said to find them and presumably in sizes they could all fit in. None of these could fit Flash, if she weren't mistaken. J'onn could adjust his size without issue and fit the suit, and while she felt that she could wear one, it would be ill-fitting at best.

Something was wrong here.

It was then she came to the end of the room and abruptly came to a stop. Blue eyes widened at what was the distinct remains of a cape and cowl. Half of the mask was missing, the cape torn at places and clearly not fully intact. Singe marks were visible at the edges of the ruined cowl, as if it had survived a fire.

These...these weren't specialized suits for advanced combat as the vigilante hinted at. These were all the Batsuits he had used throughout the years. The one without the Bat symbol must have been the first version Batman had used. There others must have weathered various battles, reaching a point where they were unusable; yet, Batman had some reason for not parting with them, or at the very least destroying them lest someone with ill means got their hands on it.

And the one before the Amazon must have been what remained following the Great Gotham Fire, the one pulled out of the ruins of the destroyed city and announced to the world his supposed death. How the vigilante had recovered this, she had no idea, but a part of her wondered why he would be willing to keep such a memento.

Diana whipped her head around, her hair flying through the air before it collided with her shoulder. The door to the vault was still open. Lifting off the ground, she twisted her body as she flew like a dagger through the air, ignoring Flash as he yelped as she rushed passed him.

She had been a second too late. Faster than she could react, the vault door slammed shut, the Amazon collided with it face first, a loud _BANG!_ echoing throughout the room before she dropped to the floor stunned. Wincing, Diana let the pain in her face subsided before she glanced up, staring at the imposing door.

"What the hell is going on?!" Flash exclaimed, an instant later appearing at the dark-haired woman's side. "Why'd the door close?"

Anger was welling up within Diana. Of all of the chauvinistic actions in Man's World, this had to be right at the top. For some reason, Batman saw it fit to lock them within this vault. She didn't know why, but when she got out of here she would be giving him a piece of her mind.

"Calm yourself, Diana," J'onn spoke, causing her and Flash to look at the Martian. Though she hadn't said anything, it didn't take much to know how he knew of her fury. Unlike the two heroes, he hadn't moved from his spot, instead standing tall and unwavering. His eyes, on the other hand, were glowing orange, no doubt trying to reach Batman's mind. A moment later his eyes returned to their natural hue, though they narrowed in annoyance.

"Batman seems to believe he is protecting us," he reported to them, which only served to increase Diana's ire.

"Wow, great," Flash deadpanned. "Is that all Spooky tried to do, or does he plan on gassing us too so that way we can get a good night's sleep?"

"I was not able to glean much else from his mind. He sensed my intrusion shortly after I made contact and shut me out."

 _That insufferable man!_ "The only one who will be needing protection is him when I get out of here," she declared as she forced herself onto her feet. Pulling back a fist, she then slammed it against the door.

A loud _BANG!_ rang out, the very room seeming to shake; yet, there wasn't so much as a scratch or dent from the blow.

Undeterred, she pounded her fist over and over, receiving the same result. There was no object created by man that should have been able to withstand her strength, but so far this door was making a very good case for it. Red specks began appearing on the smooth metal surface, growing larger with every punch she landed. It wasn't until Flash grabbed her by the wrist and forced her to stop that she did. She even spared a second to glance at the broken skin of her knuckles, noticing how bloody they appeared.

"I don't think that's going to work, D," the red-clad man said. "Looks like Bats was expecting something like this."

"But why?" she openly seethed. "After all this time, why would he shove us to the side and act like we are the ones that need to be saved?"

"Maybe because we do."

That shocked Diana out of her anger. "You...agree?" she carefully asked.

Flash shrugged his shoulders. "Considering we keep having our butts handed to us by a guy that looks as if a stiff breeze could knock him over, I think I can see where Bats is coming from." His face hardened then. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to quit either."

"Neither am I," J'onn agreed, coming to stand next to them. "If you would wait a moment."

His body went translucent and before the other two could speak, he moved through them and disappeared through the door. A moment later and they heard the Martian in their heads. _I'm through._

"Way to go, J'onn!" Flash cheered. Seconds passed by before the door reopened, J'onn standing on the other side patiently.

Instantly, Diana took off into the air again, racing pass the two men as she exited the vault. She blasted into the rest of the cave and came to a stop in midair, her eyes searching frantically throughout the cavern.

Much to her concern, there was no sign of Batman anywhere.

The Dark Knight had said he would be at his Batmobile; floating towards its usual platform, she found the vehicle in question was missing with no sign of it anywhere. This only served to heightened her anxiety. Gone was her initial rage, only for it to be replaced with worry.

Diana felt like she could hit herself over the head for this. She had thought she noticed some hesitation in Batman's body language, how he suddenly had a plan, but was vague on the details. He must've thought that the best way to face the Joker was to do it by himself.

 _The fool!_

"I take it he's gone." Turning her head, Diana saw Flash standing nearby. Nodding, she watched the red-clad hero sigh before he looked to the exit tunnel. "I could catch up with him," he offered, "but I get the feeling he may have something else in that car of his that could knock me out if he wanted to."

"So where does that leave us?" she demanded.

"Finding out where he'll be going to," came J'onn's answer as he stood next to the Batcomputer. He was busy turning it on, the Amazon finding herself surprised that she didn't notice it was off. It was a testament to her state of mind that she wasn't as observant as she normally was.

Unfortunately, it turned out the answers they wanted would not be forthcoming from this avenue either. Even as she landed next to the Martian, she quickly saw that the map tracking Hawkgirl's comm link was no longer active. In fact, all of the windows had been closed, leaving the three Leaguers to be staring at a black screen. It was infuriating to see.

"Is there anyway you can bring up that tracer program?" Diana asked.

"Possibly, but it will take some time to do," J'onn admitted. "If I had the same access to this computer that Batman has, it would be much easier. I'm not sure what program he used to begin with."

"Wouldn't the computer do for you? Batman always told the computer what he wanted it to do."

J'onn shook his head in response. "You're talking of his voice-recognition program. Unfortunately, that requires a higher security access that I do not have. I would have to manually put in what program we would need and I wouldn't know where to begin."

"What about Bats' stuff?" Flash suggested. "Maybe if we searched for his Batmobile or something, we'd have an easier time."

"It is worth a try," the Martian agreed, looking to Diana, to which she nodded her agreement. Reaching out, he began typing on the keyboard, inputting their desired command. "I have found a list of his equipment," he announced, still typing.

"Please tell me he's got a tracer on them. Please, please tell me he's got a tracer on them," Flash urged.

A small smile appeared on J'onn's face. "He does."

Thank Athena for Batman's anal retentiveness. "Can you activate the tracer?" she pressed.

J'onn didn't reply, simply inputting the order. A window appeared on screen, one that was reminiscent of the one they had been using to track Hawkgirl. One difference was the map was of the north side of Gotham, a bat symbol moving into the outer limits of the city.

"We got 'em!" Flash cheered. "Let's head out and catch up with the guy."

That was Diana's first instinct as well, but something else on the monitor caught her attention. Frowning, she then pointed up at the screen and asked, "Why are there two signals?"

That got the attention of the other two. "Well I'll be," Flash remarked as he stared. "He's got someone else with him."

"It would be best not to rush into any judgements," J'onn said. "We cannot make any assumptions without being out there. He could be activating a weapon on the Batmobile, or releasing a drone of some sort."

While that was possible, Diana was not in the mood for any more hypothesizing. She wanted to get out there and put an end to this entire sorry state of affairs. It had gone on for too long and it was stretching the League out in ways it hadn't imagined. The sooner this was over, the better.

And then she would make sure she and Batman had a _very_ long talk.

* * *

He had felt the presence seconds after it had appeared. _J'onn._ The others were out of the vault and they weren't happy about it.

Clearing his mind, Batman slowed his breathing down as he began the preliminary preparations for meditation. While it was a bad idea to go into a trance while driving, he had no intent on falling asleep at the wheel. Envisioning a wall, he shoved it between his and J'onn's conscious and pushed it against the intruding Martian until he could no long feel him in his head.

This was just one of many techniques he had learned following the Kalanorian Invasion. No way was he going to find himself at the mercy of a telepath again, even one he considered an ally. Even with his reduced personal time, he had scheduled mandatory meditation sessions, not only with himself, but with Cassandra. The girl had needed another outlet to control her growing restlessness and using the calming tantra had served to temper her.

It was during these sessions he had developed what he liked to refer to as "the wall." This had been the first time he had actually put it to action against an unwanted presence and the results were very satisfactory. Unfortunately, he was positive J'onn had at least scanned his surface thoughts, so that was a clue for the Martian to use should he and the others follow him.

The vigilante felt certain that they would.

All the more reason he needed to finish off the Joker and recover the other Justice League members before the rest of them bumbled their way in. He would have to review the security footage to see how they had escaped the vault considering he had given them a passcode that would seal them inside. That would have to be done at a later time; he was just about to arrive at his destination.

Spotting an alleyway up ahead, the dark-clad man began to slow his car down, turning into the alley and coming to a complete stop. Turning off the engine, he waited for the canopy to slide open before he climbed out. He used his grapple to climb the building next to him, the canopy shut beneath him and locked an instant later.

The moment he was on the roof, he stared right at the building he just knew housed the Joker. It was a rather ingenious place to go considering it was considered abandoned and not even the local degenerates approached the place.

The Sionis Steel Mill.

There had been repairs made to the building following the helicopter's crash into the side of the steel mill. What was left of Roman Sionis' business empire had all but abandoned the place following the October 27th Attacks. It had initially been cordoned off by the GCPD, eventually repaired by Sionis' people, and then subsequently forgotten. Any hopes of using the building had been dashed the moment its notoriety had spread throughout the city.

And now it was the residence for the Joker. He did prefer taking over Mob Bosses' headquarters, so this shouldn't have been so surprising.

Pulling out his binoculars, he peered through them and began searching the facility for any signs of life. Moving from right to left and back to right, he was quick to note that every window was either dark or boarded up. Looking to the front gate, it was chained up, though there happened to be a large puddle lying beneath the bars. On either side of the puddle were wet tire tracks that faded away the further they reached out, indicating someone had driven through the water recently. A check of the courtyard in front of the building revealed a distinct lack of vehicles though.

However, there were two sliding metal doors in front and if the wet tire tracks were any indications, that's where any entering vehicle would have ended up. There would be time to check on that possibility later. Putting his binoculars away, Batman began traversing the rooftops, using his grapple when needed until he had a good look at the back of the steel mill.

Like the front, there was no sign of usage here either. To the casual eye it was like no one ever came here. It was possible that if the Joker was holed up here, he'd only be using a select area that served his needs rather than the entire complex. If that was the case, then as long as he was in a relatively unused area, he could sneak in undetected.

Eyeing one of the unboarded windows, the vigilante aimed his grapple gun just above it and fired it. The grapple claw flew through the air until it hit its target, the claws digging into the wall. The moment the line went taut, Batman hit the retraction button and leaped off the roof, his cape billowing out behind him as he sailed through the air. The wind bit at him, but he largely ignored it as he closed in on the window.

Swinging his legs out in front of him, his feet hit the glass and shattered it upon impact. His momentum carried him into the room, where he landed with a dull _thud._ His cape falling over his body, the vigilante scanned the room he was in, finding it to be empty of everything, including furniture and trash. Placing his grapple back into his belt, the Dark Knight moved to the door and opened it, entering a hallway soon after.

The corridor went in either direction, doors placed at even intervals, all of which were shut. Moving to his right, Batman traveled down the hall until he reached a left turn he had to take, which he did. There were no lights on, making the corridor dark; thankfully there was enough ambient light that allowed the night vision setting in his cowl work. Seeing the world as an eerie green, he continued his search.

Eventually he came to an intersection, one that went either left or right. Peering down each hallway, he paused when he noticed one of the doors to his left was cracked open, a soft glowing light pouring out into the hall. A hand went to his belt, prepared to pull out one of his shuriken at a moment's notice while Batman slowly crept to the door, coming to a stop next to it. Deactivating his night vision, he then reached out with his free hand and slipped it between the door and the door frame, easing the door open.

When there was enough space, he then peeked into the room. Much to his surprise, this room was very different from the one he had used to enter the steel mill. It was definitely out of place, especially when you took the hallway into consideration.

The room itself looked, dare he say, homely. There was a comfortable-looking chair with a small table next to it. There was a fireplace as well, the remains of a recently-burning fire being the source of the light he saw, the coals glowing brightly. There was no one in the room, though.

However, as he took a step into the room, it was then he noticed the pile of bodies. His nose was assaulted with the smell of decaying flesh, something that made him twist his face from disgust. Glancing at the bodies, he was quick to note that they were all smiling, their faces bone white, and their eyes bulging out of their sockets.

The Joker's handiwork.

Despite his sense of smell telling him not to, Batman approached the pile. The closer he came, the more detail he was able to pick out. One such detail was the fact that many of the bodies had their throats slashed, giving them a second bloody smile from ear to ear. Oddly enough though, there were blood stains on their necks that went up towards their heads rather than down to their bodies.

Reaching out, Batman grabbed one of the hands and check the wrist, seeing rope burns from when the victim was struggling against their bindings. Moving down the body, he then checked the ankles and found rope burns there as well. It was likely the same for the rest of the victims as well.

Glancing back to the slit through, it was then the vigilante noted that the cut seemed off. The ends of the cut seemed to be pointed down rather than up. Holding his hand in the form of a fist in front of the victim's neck, he made a few slashing motions, trying to determine how the wound was made. The more he did this, the more he came to the conclusion that the victim was upside down when their throat was slashed, which explained why the blood stains were angled towards the head. The Joker wanted these men's blood for some reason.

Standing up, the Dark Knight turned away from the bodies, only to freeze where he stood. Across the room, on the wall the chair was facing, was a large Bat Symbol, encircled by an even larger heart. It was startling to say the least.

Hesitantly, the vigilante approached the symbols until he stood in front of it. There was also a smell coming from it, one he was quick to identify: dried blood. Staring at the color, it was a dull red, almost brown.

Glancing back to the bodies and then back to the dried blood, he wondered if this had been painted on the wall using the victims' blood. While he doubted the gallons Joker had collected would be used for this sole purpose, he may have used what was left to make this.

The biggest question was why? Why make this? Why attack the League? Was there some other motive at play here? The systematic attacks were clearly directed at each Leaguer's physical and mental weak points; yet—now that he thought about it—there had been no motive that he nor the rest of the League could unearth that explained why the Joker was targeting them.

There was something seriously wrong here.

* * *

The engine to the Batmobile had gone cold. With her hand pressed onto the hood, Diana could feel the last remanence dissipate, indicating that the vehicle had been sitting here for quite some time.

Tearing her eyes away, the dark-haired woman looked at the building that proudly proclaimed itself to be the Sionis Steel Mill. From what she could see, it appeared abandoned with some sort of repairs done to its outer walls. Aside from the sound of wind and the occasional honking of a car horn elsewhere in the city, this place was quiet. In fact, she hadn't seen a single person within blocks of this area.

Standing at the entrance to the alleyway they were in, J'onn was facing the steel mill, his face a mask of stoicism that it usual was. His cape ruffled with the wind whenever it passed, yet the Martian seemed oblivious to it.

Approaching him, Diana came to a stop at his side. "You're sure this is where Batman came?" she asked.

"I am," was the green man's response. He then held up a handheld device, one with a screen with a red dot blinking from it. They had found the tracking device in a draw next to the Batcomputer and activated it. It wasn't as accurate as the supercomputer, but it allowed them to not wait until the Batmobile had come to a stop.

That was when a gust of wind blew by and Flash appeared out of thin air in front of them. "I've done a perimeter check," he informed then. "There's not much of anything out here. It's like people are avoiding this place."

Diana nodded. She had come to the same conclusion when they had arrived.

"Strange though, I did find this motorcycle. Top of the line too. There weren't any markings on it, unfortunately, so there's no telling who's it belongs to." The speedster became wistful. "I'd like to get one myself."

That caused the Amazon to frown. "What need of you for a motorcycle?"

"Oh, absolutely none. That still doesn't mean I can't appreciate them," Flash answered her, a smirk appearing on his face.

"I believe we need to find an entryway into this steel mill," J'onn spoke up, interrupting the exchange. "Were you able to locate any entrances?"

"Tons. There's obviously the front door, but considering who we're going up against, I think it'd be a good idea not to use it—probably boobytrapped. There is a back door, though. Doesn't look like anyone's used it in ages."

"That will do."

"Great, follow me."

In a blur, Flash raced off, Diana and J'onn taking to the air as they flew after him. It wasn't a long journey before the three of them stood in front of the back door, albeit several feet away. The first thing the Amazon took note of was the security camera that was pointed right down at the door, watching for any trespassers.

"The camera's dead," Flash spoke. "When I was doing my recon, I checked it. Wires were cut and any batteries inside were dead."

"Is the door locked?" Diana asked.

"Probably. Didn't check it to be honest."

"Then now would be a good time to—"

" _Well, well, well, what do we have here?"_

The three heroes froze. Diana's eyes darted to her left and right, searching for the source of the voice. " _It looks like I have some visitors. Oh dear me, and I haven't even cleaned up the house yet!"_

Head swinging from side to side until she finally turned around, Diana finally spotted where the Joker's voice was coming from. There was a nearby tower—it's purpose she wasn't sure about—and on it was another security camera, this one obviously working as it stared right down at her. Below the camera was a speaker that was clearly where the voice was coming from.

" _Now, I hope you all will give me some time to freshen up! I'm expecting guests, ya know, so come on inside and make yourselves at home! Here, let me play you some relaxing music."_

Suddenly, an ear-piercing wailing rang out. Instantly, Diana's hands flew up to her ears and pressed down on them in an attempt to block it out. Her teeth clenched tightly as the high frequency tore at her eardrums. J'onn and Flash mirrored her pose, the two of them joining her in a cry of pained surprise.

Unconsciously, the Amazon took a step back to try and keep her balance, but that was quickly becoming the least of her worries. The longer that sound carried on, the more it sent jolts of pain throughout her head. Her body began to waver and before she knew it, she dropped to one knee, her head bending low as she vainly tried to keep the scream out.

J'onn was somehow managing to stay on his feet, though he too had taken a step or two to maintain his balance. His face was twisted with agony, his orange eyes for once squeezed shut. Flash hadn't handled the sound well at all, the red-clad man having collapsed onto the ground as his body curled into the fetal position.

Soon, all Diana could hear was the high-frequency sound. If the Joker mocked them through the intercom, she didn't hear a word of it—a small mercy if there was ever one. Any grunts or cries from Flash or J'onn were drowned out as well.

That was when the ground beneath Diana's feet dropped out from under here. The next thing she knew, she was falling, the same with Flash and J'onn. Due to the ear-splitting pain in her head, however, she found herself unable to call upon her power of flight to stop her descent into darkness.

And some time during her fall, she lost consciousness, a blessing she was more than willing to accept.

* * *

The Steel Mill is being modeled off of the one in the Arkham Games. Seemed a fitting choice considering the Joker does use that place as a base at one point.

As mentioned in the previous chapter, the glitch with the reviews is still going on, so I'll be leaving my replies at the end of chapters. And without further ado:

To Anonymous Void: Well, I think this chapter answered some of your musings.

To Link0011: Thanks. Glad you're enjoying it.

To guest: Nightwing's relationship to Batman is much different in this series. I would recommend checking out a couple of the previous stories in the series to get a better idea of it. For now though, there won't be any Nightwing appearances.

To Jackalope89: It'd be ironic if that was part of a sitcom.

To LOTSlover: Guilty? Hmm, not sure if I do. I'll need to do some testing on that.

To Guest: Ask and you may receive. Most likely. More than probable.


	19. The Basement

It was with a groan that Diana stirred, slowly coming back to consciousness. Her head was throbbing from a headache, something that made her grunt as she began to shift her body. The ground she laid on was cool to the touch, something that caused her to press her forehead against to soothe the headache.

Eventually, she opened her eyes and found herself staring down at cracked cement. It wasn't damaged from her landing so much as wear and tear over the years. Pressing her hands down on the floor, she pushed herself up, finding herself in a concrete corridor. More alarming though, was that she didn't see J'onn, or Flash anywhere.

The dark-haired woman tried to remember how she came to this place. The last thing she remembered was being in the company of her comrades, so she must have lost consciousness sometime during their last moments together. She was even willing to bet that her current headache must have been a result of the separation as well.

The Amazon sighed. The very thing they wanted to avoid and they were unable to succeed at that. Perhaps there was a legitimate reason for Batman striking out on his own.

Shaking her head, Diana forced herself onto her feet. Looking ahead and behind her, all she could see was the hallway extending out until darkness covered any distinguishing features. Focusing on her hearing, she tried to pick up any sounds that might tell her where she was other than underground.

Sound—now that stirred something in her memory. A high-pitched sound had been used against them, the Amazon recalling having to cover her ears in a poor attempt to block it out. All three of them had been affected by it, which left them helpless to however they were transported into these tunnels. Looking up, all Diana saw was a ceiling, though she was more than willing to believe that it could open up with the right amount of physical persuasion.

While she could do that, Diana felt that still wouldn't reunite her with J'onn, or Flash, especially if they were down here with her. It would be best to search for them first before trying to find a way out.

Taking a deep breath and releasing it, the Amazonian Princess began moving forward, heading down the corridor.

* * *

J'onn blinked his eyes. He was firmly aware of the fact he was in some sort of storage area, the amount of crates being his first indication of such. However, he had not moved a muscle since arriving.

His mind was still recovering from the debilitating noise used against him and his comrades. Unlike Diana and Flash, he had managed to stay awake rather than lose consciousness. That was why he was the only one to see them separated during their fall. There had been a metal construct reminiscent of what Earthlings called a slide. They had landed on it and gravity had continued to push them down it, the slide dividing into multiple ones soon after. There were all sorts of different paths as the slide repeated divided, though they may have just been the one J'onn had been on. Chances were they all had different paths and with the multiple possibilities they each could have taken, there was no telling where the others ended up.

It had been an unpleasant experience, physically at least. While the Martian's body ached at certain points, there was nothing stopping himself from moving save for his mind. His balance centers had been scrambled not only due to the unexpected sound, but the physical jolting of the slide. For now it was best to recuperate before venturing out.

However, that didn't mean he had to be inactive. Steadily he reached out with his mind, searching for any signs of activity outside of his location. He was being cautious with this as he wasn't sure what he might encounter here. At the very least he expected to find Diana and/or Flash, assuming they were awake. The lack of mental impulses made a psychic sweep much harder.

Eyes glowing orange, he searched and searched, until at long last he picked up a mind. It was a closed off and foreboding one—Batman's. So he was indeed here. However, he did sense the man felt disturbed by something; the exact details were lacking, but J'onn mused that it would have to be something significant to make a man like the Dark Knight worried.

Soon after he sensed another mind, and shortly after that another—Diana and Flash. So they were both on the move. That was comforting. He had been worried that out of all the different twists and turns, they all would have been captured with relative ease.

Unfortunately, that brought up another thought. If there was ever a time for the Joker to capture not one, but three Justice League members, he could not have created a better scenario. All three of them were rendered incapacitated at worse, weakened at best. Yet, instead of capture, the sociopath had designed his metal creation to deliver each hero to different places in his complex. Why would he do such a thing?

Suddenly, J'onn detected another mind, one that differed from the others. It was manic and dark, indicating an unwell mind. Considering his unfamiliarity with such a mind, the Martian could only assume this was the Joker. In fact, he was alone, a sense of patience emanating through the sickness within his head.

J'onn was up on his feet in an instant. Focusing on the depraved mind, his eyes nearly bore holes in the wall in front of him from the intensity. _There!_ He had him now. No longer would this madman slip through their fingers. He was going to put an end to this once and for all.

The Martian's body changed, taking on a transparent appearance. Leaning forward, he lifted off the floor and flew headfirst at the wall, going through it and passing into another room. His speed picked up and the world around J'onn came at him as flashes of images, passing through one wall and then another and then another in a blink of an eye. He ignored everything else as room after room and hall after hall appeared and disappeared with every blink.

And then he was there. Coming to an immediate halt as he pulled back to float with his feet mere inches from the floor, his body returned to its natural hue, his cape blowing all over him, flapping in front of him due to its continued momentum. It eventually fell to hang from his shoulders even as J'onn gazed to the man he sought.

The Joker stood in his pressed purple suit, a sly smirk on his face as he held his hands behind his back. The room they were in was best described as a boiler room, the giant boilers placed at even intervals to their left and right, lining those walls. Oddly enough, only one was active and that one was far behind the Joker, off to his left. If there was ever a room that the clown could have chosen, this was the most advantageous if the boilers were actually on.

"Well, howdy there, Marvin," the Joker greeted him, his voice calm and laced with a touch of humor. "Are you here for the Uranium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator? If so, you just missed it. I sold my last one."

J'onn was not amused. "I have come to apprehend you, Joker," he told him, dropping down to stand on the ground. "I advise you to surrender yourself peacefully and no harm will come to you."

The Joker's face twisted into one of thoughtfulness, or so J'onn believed since he could pick up on the man's thoughts. His eyes had rolled up as he jutted his jaw, pursing his red lips as they pulled to a side. "Ya know, that's very tempting," he acknowledge. "But I'm going to have to saaaaay...no."

He was hiding something, J'onn could sense it. However, the fact he immediately knew that not from deductive reasoning, but from the thoughts of the madman made him pause. He wasn't actively trying to read the Joker's mind, yet he found himself doing it repeatedly, unconsciously even.

 _I've got a secret…_ the Joker changed in his head. _I've got a secret, I've got a secret, don't you want to know? Don't you want to know?_

J'onn found himself glaring, an expression that was foreign to his face, made all the more intimidating by the lack of usage. "I can hear your thoughts," he warned the green-haired man. "If you wish to tell me something, do so."

"Oh, but where would the fun be in that?" the Joker taunted him. "Since you can 'hear my thoughts,' why don't you just read my mind and take 'em? Oh wait, I know you goodie-two-shoes don't like violating privacy and all—very admirable by the way. I wouldn't want TMZ snapping a pic of me in my tightie-whities and plastering it on the internet. I'd have to kill the entire office just to get the negatives back. So I'll be nice and give you permission. Go on, do it. I promise I won't bite."

"No," J'onn replied stonily. He then began approaching the clown, coming to a stop in front of him as he reached out and grabbed the man by his shoulder. "No more games."

"Pity," the Joker lamented. "Because games is all I have left."

And then the man's sly look morphed into a full out smile. Pain tore into J'onn's head, causing him to cry out and stumble back a couple steps, his hands shooting up to clutch his skull. His eyes shut tightly for a moment before he cracked them open.

Gone, however, was the boiler room and in its stead was a dark void, the only thing visible being the Joker himself. That didn't last long though, as menacing yellow-glowing eyes began to appear, one pair at a time, then two, then countless.

And all the eyes were staring right at him.

"Ya know, when I was visiting Metropolis," the Joker began, his tone conversational, "I happened to stumble upon this place that had this little do-dads in them. A Mr. Dorsey—I call him Freddy—said they were thought buffers, or something like that. Now, I know what you're thinking: why would some rich guy have a bunch of thingamabobs that kept people from thinking? Well, I'll tell ya: they're people wanting to hide something.

"As for me, well, I like to _share_ my thoughts."

Suddenly, living shadows raced at J'onn, ramming into him. The Martian opened his mouth to scream from the onslaught, only to have the shadows begin rushing into the opening and down his throat. More entered his body through his eyes and ears, causing him to fall to his knees, his face frozen in a silent scream.

"So I took Mr. Dorsey's thought buffers and I reversed them! So now, instead of blocking thoughts, it encourages people to think them—and read them." The Joker paused in his narrations as he stared down at J'onn's stiffening body as it began to rear backwards, his back straining from the motion. "And right now you're getting a _good_ look into my mind."

That was when the Joker's face began to change. His nose seemed to grow longer as his eyes became slited. His smile opened as fangs began to grow from the incisors, a forked tongue darting out from his serpentine face.

"Make yourself at home, Marvin. It'ssssss going to be a bumpy ride, ha ha!"

* * *

With a shrill screech, the hinges to the iron door squealed as it was forced opened. With a grunt, Batman shoved it to a side, where its edge clanged on the floor.

After investigating the rest of the upper floors, the vigilante had come to the conclusion that aside from the one room with the mural of dried blood, they were largely ignored. So he had gone in search of finding his way to the lower levels, finding a set of iron doors extending from the floor. Seeing a set of stairs descending, the dark-clad man didn't spare a second as he began climbing down them.

Reaching a new hallway, he began making his way down it. There was relatively little lighting, which was causing some issue with his night vision; in fact, he shut the setting down, seeing as they were as useful as using his regular sight. Reaching to his belt, he pulled out a glow stick and used both hands to bend it until he heard an audible _crack._ A green light began to glow, proving some light.

The walls, floor, and ceiling were made of smooth cement, occasional cracks breaking up the monotony. Reaching a T-intersection, he glanced to the hall on his right, seeing nothing different from his current path, and chose to continue moving straight.

It was clear this tunnel had been built during Sionis' ownership, most likely to hide paraphernalia during inspections, or audits. Knowing Sionis, it was most likely illegal arms and narcotics, which meant there had to be storerooms down here. No way would the former Black Mask leave crates lying in a hallway.

As he approached a four-way intersection, he heard a soft sound. If he wasn't mistaken, it sounded like a footstep, and it was coming from the right hallway. There was someone just around the corner and they had to have noticed the light from his glow stick. Carefully, Batman retrieved a shuriken from his belt, holding it at the ready. Silently he approached the corner, pressing his back against it as he readied to strike.

Whirling around the corner, his cape billowing out as he spun, Batman made to throw his shuriken, stopping short as he came face to face with Diana. Arm crossed over his chest as he held the projectile by his shoulder, the vigilante stared at the Amazon as she blinked her eyes rapidly in order to adjust to the source of light in his other hand.

He had expected her to show up sooner or later, but the fact that the dark-haired woman was creeping around down here and rather crashing through a roof was puzzling. "What are you doing down here?" he gruffly asked her, slowly relaxing his body as he dropped his armed hand down to his side.

"Searching for you," was her equally curt response. Her eyes narrowed into a glare. "How dare you decide to leave us behind. We may not be at full strength, but we are still a team and team members do not act unilaterally."

"We weren't getting anywhere sticking together—" Batman said.

"Which was your idea," she was quick to point out.

"—so I felt it was best to try something else," he continued unperturbed. "Since I've had the most experience fighting the Joker, I felt it was best if I went in alone."

"And end up captured by him no doubt," Diana growled back. "Now we're all separated; so we need to go find J'onn and Flash before something happens to them."

That caused Batman to scowl. "How did you three get separated?" he questioned.

"We tried to enter this building through the back door, but the Joker was waiting. He disoriented us with a high-frequency noise and dropped us underground."

Damn. So the Joker had figured to use hypersonics on them; it obviously was successful since Diana was all on her own down here. It was pointless to hope the other two would be together since it was most likely the Joker wanted them all on their own.

Since the Dark Knight hadn't run into anyone else down here, there was no point in going back the way he came to search. The same went for the corridor Diana was in. That just left the left and middle routes to try.

Turning around to look at the remaining halls, he glanced back at Diana before he said, "We'll continue your search for the others. After that we find the Joker."

"And after that we need to have a long talk," Diana added ominously.

 _We'll see._ Aside from that one thought, Batman largely ignored the statement. Instead he began walking down the middle hallway, the Amazon following behind him. He could still feel her stony look on his back, but he didn't really care. They had a mission to complete.

* * *

Flash slowly edged himself to the corner, pausing long enough to work up his nerve before he quickly peeked around it and pulled back.

This creeping-around stuff was driving the young man nuts. If it wasn't necessary, he would've sped through this entire place already instead of tip-toeing around. His speed had already been used against him in his own city, so he didn't want to take the risk of doing the same thing in the bad guy's lair. If there was ever a place to have some speed trap for him, it would be here.

So Flash was doing his best Batman-stalking and was actually taking his time. Right now he was looking at a turn in the hallway he was in and his quick peek had shown him—surprise, surprise—another empty hall. This made, what, the ninth one? Seriously, he needed to find Wondy, or J'onn already, this being alone stuff was for the birds.

Moving into the new corridor, he walked down it until he came to another turn. Doing the same thing he had done earlier, he pressed himself against the wall and inched himself to the edge where he poked his head around it.

This time he stopped in mid-look. At the end of the hall was a door. Unlike the rest of this maze place, this was the first time he had actually found something that wasn't grey, cracked, or was boring-looking beyond belief. He was actually making progress!

His head jerked around in all directions then, the speedster looking for anything suspicious in this corridor, finding none. Head slowing down, Flash stared at the door before he darted towards it at super speed, stopping right in front of it. Grabbing the doorknob, he gave it a twist and pulled the door open.

Flash found himself entering a room with tile lining the walls and floor. That was about all he saw as his first step ended with his foot sliding forward unexpectedly. It wasn't often Flash found himself slipping unless Captain Cold had frozen the ground during one of their fights, so when the speedster lost his balance, he landed with a wet _splat!_

"Ow," he groaned, though he didn't really hurt. His body just let him know it didn't appreciate the sudden landing. Though the odd sound of his back hitting the ground was troubling him. Turning his head, it was then that he noticed that what he had thought was white tile was in fact a distinctive shade of red.

Oh...oh God...was this...was he lying in a puddle of _blood?_ Oh geez, oh man, that was so disturbing and gross all at the same time. Please, oh please, don't let it stain his suit. Washing it was going to be an absolute nightmare—

 _Waaaaaait a minute._ What was he thinking? His costume was already red! There was no way to stain it unless it got on his boots, or Flash symbol and wait, his boots were in the blood, damn it.

Slowly, Flash pushed himself up, doing his best to ignore his sensibilities that were screaming in protest from touching the blood anymore than he had to. He sat up first before he attempted to get on his feet. Fortunately he was close enough to a wall so that he could brace himself against it with one arm.

It was then that Flash got a good look at the room he was in. Hanging from the ceiling were several sets of chains, open shackles at their ends. The floor itself was just a large puddle of blood with blood spatters decorating the walls at various points.

All of this told the red-clad man was that a lot of people died in here and those deaths were not pleasant.

 _As if murder was pleasant to begin with,_ Flash groused. It wasn't often he went up against depraved people, but he was beginning to think the one he was dealing with was definitely the most deranged.

It was then he spotted a door on the opposite side from the one he had used to enter this place. Carefully, he made his way to it, making sure he didn't slip and fall face first into the the blood. He had tasted his on many occasions when someone managed to bust his lip, so he didn't want to attempt tasting other people's.

It took awhile, but eventually he reached the door. Anxiously he reached out for the doorknob and gave it a twist. Finding it unlocked, he then pulled the door open.

Only for a bolt of electricity to slam right into his chest, causing him to scream wildly before he felt himself be thrown off his feet and through the air. The young man crashed down on the blood-covered floor, smoke wafting from his body as he lay there.

That was when another bolt hit him, causing another cry to explode out of Flash's mouth, his body going rigid as muscles were forcibly contracted or relaxed. It seemed to go on for an eternity, but eventually the electricity disappeared, leaving him to lie there, his breathing heavy. Through squinted eyes, he could see ripples in the blood moving away from him with every breath he took.

" _Whooooo-wee! Looks like I caught myself a big one!"_

 _That voice…_

Slowly, Flash moved his head to look at the open doorway, finding what was best described as a military rifle on a tripod stand. It had two barrels, the top one being the larger of the two with what looked like crackling electricity coming from it. Hanging from the ceiling was a security camera, its lens trained right on him.

" _Now, I believe you're the one they call Speed Man, right? Fast Guy? The one in the red suit that ain't Santy. Whichever it is, it is with much regret that I'm unable to be there in person for your electrocution. I've got a lot on my plate right now, I'm sure you can understand, so we'll have to be impersonal about this."_

That was when the bottom, smaller barrel fired a dart out, the dart hitting Flash right on the shoulder, causing him to hiss. " _Now don't you worry, that's just a normal sedative—with a dosage made to knock out a pack of elephants. Wasn't sure how much was needed to dope up one of you super-types, so I figured the bigger the dose, the better the results. Now don't go anywhere, I'll be right down."_

Part of Flash wanted to growl at how smart alacky that was, but he found his vision was beginning to become unfocused. In fact, darkness was moving from the edges of his sight and heading inward. Slowly the speedster he could feel the sedative kick in and he faintly wondered who would find him first: Joker or one of his friends?

Guess he'd be finding out when he woke up.

* * *

"This place is endless," Diana grumbled as they made another turn.

Batman was inclined to agree, though he didn't voice it. He had expected a tunnel system, but one this extensive was astonishing. At the very least they had moved onto a lower level, which rewarded them with a different view. Instead of plain cement, halfway up the walls were tiles, the upper half painted a dull green. The floor was formerly polished tile, but months, if not years of no maintenance had removed the shine. Thankfully the place had running electricity, so there was plenty of lighting for their search.

There were also doorways, most of which were locked up. Every once in awhile they found one that was opened, but the room beyond it was empty—or in one case the home for a colony of rats. The longer they searched, the more discouraged they became.

Even more worrisome was the lack of contact between them and J'onn and Flash. Neither of the other heroes had been found, or attempted to contact them. It was more so with J'onn considering he could reach out with his mind and form a telepathic link. Either he was unconscious somewhere, or he had been captured.

Neither scenario pleased the Dark Knight.

Spotting another door, Batman moved to it to attempt opening it. It was more for being thorough rather than out of desire. Unlike most of the doors though, this one proved to be unlocked as he opened it.

Peeking in, the vigilante found a long, rectangular room. There were scuff markings on the floor, indicating something had resided here at some point. Most likely, this was a holding room for the former owner's illegal goods. Like the hall, this room was lit up.

That made Batman frown. What was the point of having a room with the lights on if it wasn't being used? A warning flag went off in his head, a part of him wanting to discover the reason behind this, and the other wanting to ignore it due to the possibility of it being a trap.

In fact, it probably was a trap.

However, there was a door on the opposite side of the room. A piece of paper had been stuck to it with an insane amount of tape framing the edges. In a crude writing style, the words DO NOT OPEN UNTIL X-MAS had been written out in purple crayon.

That was when the vigilante felt Diana's presence behind him, her head looking over his shoulder at the sight. "It seems we are not wanted beyond that door," she remarked.

"So it does," Batman agreed before he pushed the door open completely, stepping into the room as he did so. Diana followed him through the doorway and moved to his side, keeping up with his pace.

"What do you think is behind it?" she asked him.

"Don't know."

"What are the chances it's a trap?"

"About a hundred percent."

A smirk appeared on the Amazon's face. "And yet we are going to trigger it."

"Unfortunately, we can't leave any stone unturned," the dark-clad man replied. "We haven't gotten anywhere and if this turns out to be another surprise the Joker is just waiting to use, then it's best to get it out of the way now while we're ready for it."

"Then perhaps you should—"

Whatever it was Diana was about to suggest, she was never able to finish it as panels in the walls suddenly extended out, mechanical arms extending out with what looked like a thin cannon at its end. The barrels were also pointed right at the two Leaguers.

"Best to get it out of the way, huh?" Diana commented.

"Next time, tell me to just walk away," Batman retorted.

"Count on it."

Although this weapons were similar to the ones from Cheval's house, their firepower couldn't have been more different. Instead of firing a machine gun's torrent of bullets, these acted more like actual cannons and fired one shot each, a loud _BOOM!_ echoing off the walls.

Instantly, Batman moved back a step and to a side, even as Diana moved in front of him, raising an arm to deflect the shot. However, instead of a shell bouncing off of her bracer, the Amazon let out a cry of surprise as something wet hit her arm.

The Dark Knight had been pulling out one of his explosive shuriken when he heard his comrade's astonishment. Looking over her shoulder, he could see why she had been caught off guard as he stared in amazement. What looked like a big ball of grey mud had latched onto Diana's forearm, covering her bracer completely.

A moment later and another blob hit the Amazon on her left shoulder, the force causing her to back up a step and incidentally press her back into his. Batman wasn't sure what this stuff was, but he was going to make sure no more of it would be used against them. Pulling back his arm with the explosive projectile, he was about to arm it when he heard the sound of more panels extending out of the wall.

Jerking his head to look in front of him, the vigilante found more of the cannons pointed right at him, something that made him curse inside his head. Before he could even more, they began to fire, one of the mud balls hitting him right on his arm and sending his shuriken flying out of his hand. Crying out as he felt his arm twist into an uncomfortable position from the force of the hit, he pulled his arm down even as he ducked another shot at him.

Unfortunately, that blob hit Diana right in the back, causing her to cry out even as she was pelted with more and more of the viscous substance. Her body was constantly shifting from every hit she took at her front, her legs being glued down to the floor where she stood as the mud dripped down and weighed her down.

Before Batman knew it, he too was taking hits, forcing him to press up against the Amazon in response. Each blow felt like he was getting hit with a baseball bat, one of which knocked the air right out of his lungs when it collided with his chest.

Weakly, Batman forced her arms up in a poor attempt at protecting his face, even as he tried to catch his breath. Repeated hits to his abdomen prevented him from getting adequate air, which in turn was making his vision quite hazy.

His strength left his legs then, causing the dark-clad man to drop to his knees, leaving his back exposed to repeated beatings from the blobs. Before he knew it, he was covered from neck to toe in the mud, his face being the one place that had avoided being pelted.

Slowly darkness began to overtake his sight. From the lack of air to his aching body, they made a wonderful cocktail to sending him falling into unconsciousness. As much as he tried to fight it, Batman couldn't stop his eyes from closing over and over until they refused to open again.

 _Damn._

* * *

To Guest (1): Damn straight she is.

To Guest (2): Does this satisfy you?

To manchester789: That could potentially happen. Not now obviously.

A quick note: the scene in which J'onn is being overwhelmed by the Joker's mind is based off a JLA comic in which the men of the JLA have a philosophical debate with Hal Jordan's Specter. In order to make a point, J'onn take them all into a mind so dark and evil so prove that even such a mind can have a ray of light in it, which turns out to be the Joker's. During their journey, they're all attacked by goblins and ghouls, of which J'onn is literally absorbing them into his body due to his telepathy. I did my best to describe that panel, even if it was one that was easily glanced over the first time I read it.


	20. Heart To Heart

It was to a pounding headache that Batman woke up to. His body was sore all over, no doubt readying a collection of bruises for him to find when he removed his armor.

His head hung low and probably had been doing so for a while. His neck felt stiff from the uncomfortable posture, so there was no telling how long he had been like this. Wanting to at least rub his temple to soothe his headache, he tried to move his arm and found he was unable to.

That made all sorts of alarms go off inside Batman's head. Making sharp jerks with his arms, the vigilante discovered his arms were tied down to what felt like the back of a chair, most likely a wooden one. Attempts to move his legs proved just as fruitless.

Opening his eyes, Batman allowed his blurry vision to dissipate until he was able to see clearly. Due to his head being tilted, the first thing he could make out was his lap and beyond it the floor. The floor was covered in a dirty carpet, portions of it ripped open revealing wooden slats beneath it. He also had a good view of his legs, which were tied to the front legs of the wooden chair he sat in with rope.

There weren't any armrests, so that confirmed that his arms were also tied to the back of the chair, each arm pressed against the side and bound to it with rope. Vainly he tried to figure out how he got like this, but nothing was coming to mind. Oddly enough, parts of his armor had dried dirt on it, though he wasn't sure how that had gotten—

No wait, he did know. His memory was slowly returning to him and he could remember being assault with globs of grey sludge. Diana too. His head jerked up. Oh Lord, where was Diana?

Turning his head this way and that, he saw no sign of the Amazon in the small room he was in. The walls were in a state of disrepair—or repair depending on your perspective. Pieces of wallpaper were slowly peeling off the sheetrock at places, revealing more wooden surfaces. However, there were other parts of the wall with large gaps in them, due to them being bashed in, or ripped out—regardless, the damage had been done.

On the floor next to the walls were various building supplies: lumber, tools, and the like. Someone had intending on fixing these holes, but never got around to it. There was another chair over by the far wall opposite a door. Other than that, there wasn't much of anything else.

Tugging at his bonds, Batman tried to free himself, but found his arm strength unable to overwhelm his bonds. Since they were wrapped from his hands to his upper arms, that gave the bindings more support to keep him restrained. Stopping his straining, the vigilante tried to figure out what he had on his person to help in his escape. That's when he realized his belt was missing. Searching the room once more, he found the belt lying over the back of the other chair.

Apparently someone had discarded it there, thinking the dark-clad man couldn't find a way to reach it. Far be it from him to prove them wrong.

That was when he heard a jiggling of the doorknob and found himself looking to the door. A moment later and it opened, the Joker walking in and coming to an immediate stop the moment he realized the vigilante was looking right at him.

The green-haired man's eyes blinked as he stared back. Batman was quick to note he had a water basin in his hands, though he wasn't sure for what reason, nefarious or not. Then the Joker's face lit up, though he didn't smile his trademark smile, opting for a tight-lipped grin. "Oh good, you're up," he greeted, beginning to walk to the Dark Knight.

Batman stayed silent as he watched the clown approach him, stopping long enough to place his basin a few feet away on the floor. A glance told him there was only water and a wet washcloth in it, or so he hoped. The Joker began moving again, this time heading to the other chair in the room and dragging it back to place it right in front of the vigilante. Taking a seat, the pale man picked up his basin and set it in his laps, a hand picking the washcloth out of the water. He squeezed the rag to allow excess water to drip from it.

"Now, I must apologize for getting you so out of sorts,' the Joker apologized as he reached his rag up to Batman's face. In response, he jerked his head back, moving it from left to right and back as the clown's hand kept trailing behind. "You stop that right now," the Joker growled lowly. "I'm _trying_ to be _nice_ here." He then sighed as he dropped his arm to his side. "Look, I didn't mean for you to get hit by the rubber cement, alright? Now let me clean you off already!"

So that's what that stuff had been. No wonder Diana hadn't been able to shrug it off. Had it hardened upon contact, she would've been able to break out of it. Due to the viscosity, she would have had to remove it in another way, one she obviously wasn't able to do.

His musings though, allowed the Joker to press his washcloth against his face and began to dab it along his jaw. "Ya see, I had made that contraption with the Wonder Babe and the Fastest Man In Bed in mind. I hadn't thought you'd be hanging around Cheeks until I saw you two practically holding hands. Not that I blame you because she is quite easy on the eyes."

The Joker then growled his approval, something that caused Batman to glare at him in turn. Ignoring the look, the Joker continue his ministrations, cleaning off the vigilante's face until he was satisfied. "There, all better."

Placing the washcloth back into the basin, he then carefully laid it on the ground next to him. For someone as erratic as this madman, he seemed to be doing his best at keeping himself restrained. "Now then, it's time we got down to business," he said.

"And that business would be?" the dark-clad man questioned.

"Oh, nothing too earth-shattering." The Joker just leaned back in his seat, the legs of his chair screeching across the floor as he pushed it back so that he could comfortably cross one leg over the other. "I just want to talk."

Batman stared dumbly at the man, not sure he had heard that right. "You want...to talk."

"Yes, talk. We don't do that anymore and I see it as a moral imperative that we correct that."

This was too surreal. In fact, there was no damn way the past few days had been just so they could sit down—one against their will—to chat. "All of this, all of those people hurt or dead, was all so we could _talk?_ " he growled dangerously.

"Hm? People?" The Joker seemed genuinely confused before his eyes and face lit up with realization. "Oh! _Those people!_ How could I forget? No, they were just collateral damage while I picked off your little super group. I just couldn't pass up a chance to say a few words with you."

" _Why?_ What do you have against the Justice League?" he demanded.

That caused the madman to belt out laughing. "HA HA HA HA HA! Oh, what a ridiculous name! Justice League—sounds like a special needs kiddie baseball league." He wiped a finger beneath one of his eyes, removing a tear from his laughing spat.

But then his face turned serious. "But in all seriousness, I'm quite disappointed in you Bats. Why would someone as great as you want to join up with _them?_ What, are they offering you some fringe benefits? Is Cheeks offering you something on the side while her main squeeze ain't looking? I really must know."

Apparently the Joker didn't approve of his joining with the League. To be honest, he wasn't all that joyful about it either, but in the six months he had been a member, he had slowly begun to accept that they were a necessary evil, one that actually had good intentions and for the most part worked.

Opting to not say a word, Batman waited for the Joker to continue his tirade, something he did not disappoint in. "The silent treatment, eh? That's fine, you don't have to say a thing. Ya see, we're connected in a way that none of your goody-two-shoe friends will ever be. I know you better than you know yourself."

"You don't know a thing about me," the vigilante gruffly retorted.

"Oh, I don't, do I?" The Joker seemed pleased by the response. Uncrossing his legs, he then leaned towards the Dark Knight. "I know that beneath all that armor and angst, you're just a man—just like beneath all the gags and bombs, I'm just a man." Batman snorted his disbelief at those words, but that didn't seem to perturb the clown one bit. "But can you really say that about those heroes? They're veritable Gods with all of those powers!

"So tell me, Bat- _man._ " The green-haired man stressed the second syllable of his name, obviously wanting to drive that part home. "What's a simple guy like you hanging out with Gods that could smite you down anytime, anywhere?"

Again, Batman didn't respond to the goad. "I mean, I just don't get it. After everything you accomplished before they made their own Olympus, you stood hands and shoulders over all of them! Was it Superman's name they cheered when you took on the Iceman? No, that was you! And when those riots broke out, where was Cheeks? Having a Greek Orgy on that island no doubt."

The Joker paused, seeming to consider that mental image. "Later, Little J, later," he then mumbled before continuing, "And when you and I had our tango, where were the others? Living the high life in their own little cities, far from the bombs and laughing gas. I mean, they came to _you_ , the guy without powers, to help _them_ out with that alien invasion. Color me stupid, but shouldn't that be the other way around?"

He then leaned closer to the Dark Knight, to the point his nose was nearly touching the dark-clad man's. "And you know why they came to you? Because you're _better_ than they are."

"And how did you come to that conclusion?" Batman couldn't help but prod him.

"Quite simply, dear Watson! Because you're not one of them and never will be."

* * *

It was to a sense of grogginess that Diana awoke. There was a cloud over her mind and she found she couldn't easily shake it off.

Everything was dark around her, so she couldn't see anything. Perhaps her eyes were closed? Attempting to open then, she quickly realized that they were already open.

Then she was blindfolded? No, she couldn't feel any cloth on her face or head. A dark room then? That seemed the most likely of answers since she could not disprove it at the time being. Now she just needed to move and find a light source.

Except, she then became aware, she was already standing. In fact, her whole body felt as if it had been posed. Her left arm was extended out, the hand balled into a fist while her other hand dangled at her side while holding some sort of shaft. Even more alarming was that the Amazon couldn't find it in herself to move. No matter how much she willed her muscled to move, they would not respond.

What in the name of Athena was going on?

The cloud that had been dulling her senses lifted then, her thoughts taking on a sense of clarity. She was standing, frozen in place, in a room with no light. Diana wasn't sure why she was like this, or how she got this way, but for the time being she was stuck here. If physical exertion would not win her her freedom, then she needed to use her mind and think her way out of this.

It was a shame that she couldn't come up with an immediate solution to her quandary.

Perhaps she needed to think back to what she could at least remember. That seemed like a logical starting point. The last thing the Amazonian Princess could remember was being attacked with some very thick goo that she could not remove. She had been covered in it, much like Batman had been—

Diana's mind froze. _Oh, Hera, Batman!_

He had been with her! Was he here too? Or had something else insidious happened to him? A feeling of anxiety feel over her as her stomach sank. She needed to know if he was okay.

Diana tried to call out to him, but once more discovered that she could not open her mouth to say his name. No matter how hard she tried, her lips would not move. She tried to make a sound regardless, but found that she could not force enough air through her vocal cords to produce anything.

Now that she thought about it, she was somehow breathing, but definitely not as much as she normally did. It was as if her lungs could only inflate just enough for her to get some oxygen without expanding her chest for more.

What had been done to her?

It was without question that something had been done to her, most likely from the evil foe she and the Justice League had been facing these last few days. Batman had warned them all that the Joker was very creative with chemicals, so it stood to reason that he must have come up with some concoction that kept her as still as a statue.

Unfortunately, this state was not good for her, especially if she wished to save not only herself, but the others as well. If only she could see; if only she could speak.

If only she could move.

* * *

"Someone took it all away from you once, didn't they, Batman?"

Because of his mask, the Joker could not see the look on the vigilante's face. Though his mouth and jaw were much the same, his eyes were wide, his forehead furrowed at the genuine look of sympathy on the Joker's face. It was as if he were trying to be empathetic and was largely succeeding.

"Someone came around and did something so horrific that you were left an empty shell of yourself, your entire life shattered," the green-haired man continued, not needing any encouragement or prompting. "It was that person that led you to becoming what you are: an all-punching, all-kicking ball of angst.

"And look what you've done!" At this his voice raised in tone, the clown throwing his arms out as if to indicate something much larger than himself. "You turned around a city that was going right down the crapper! As much crap as I've given you for it, it's admirable. You became a King amongst paupers and phony lords. The peasants praised you, the guardsmen accepted you, and the evil barons of crime sunk back into their little hidey-holes.

"But can you say the same about those other heroes? I mean, look at the cities they defended. Metropolis was considered the future of America long before Superman put on his red underwear. Central City had its picket fences and nuclear families when Speedy Red came into the picture. I'd say Detroit comes as close to Gotham as any of them, but that place is as dead as a strip club at high noon, if you know what I mean."

"What are you trying to get at?" Batman questioned. During the Joker's spiel, he had been surprised by the sympathy, blindsided by praise, and now confused when compared to the rest of the Justice League. Strange did not begin to describe what he was feeling.

"What I'm saying is that you're different from them. Not a bad different, but a good different," the Joker explained. "No matter how hard you try, no matter how much you want to be, you will _never_ be one of them."

"And why is that?"

A bemused look appeared on the clown's face. "Because you had a bad day. It's what made you what you are. Can you honestly say any of the others had it as rough as you did? I don't think they have and, believe me, I would know."

The expression on his face changed into a more somber one then. "I had a bad day too. I know you'll find it hard to believe, but I had a family once. It wasn't a big one, but it was family nonetheless. We were struggling like any new-age married couple would in today's world, but we were making it.

"And then I lost everything. My wife was...taken from me. I fell into a bad crowd and they used me and used me good. Eventually, everything just came crashing down on my head."

There was a slight change, subtle, yet noticeable, in the Joker's face. "And I had an epiphany."

The green-haired man fell silent then, and despite himself, Batman found he wanted to know just what this man had gone through; what had caused him to become the insane psychopath that he was. Though there was skepticism warning him that this wasn't what it seemed, he still prompted, "What was the epiphany?"

"That everything was a bad joke. Life, work, love, it was all the miserable punchline for a sick universe telling the worst knock-knock joke ever. And I was sick and tired of being the one being laughed at, who was the butt of the joke. I wasn't sure how to do it, to be honest."

Then his pale fit lit up with mirth as his eyes focused right on the vigilante. "And then you showed up. At first I thought you were just some idiot thinking he could change the world and make it a better place. I was so sure you would fail. But then others came out, like the frigid doc, and that fat British guy with the umbrellas. They were trying to change the world, just like you, and I realized that you knew— _you knew_ —that you had figured out what I had, but instead of moping around, you were going to do something about it. You even got others in on the action.

"So I felt that if you could fight as hard as you could, I could do no less. I had to spread my knowledge, share it with everyone, just like you."

Batman's face hardened into a scowl. Anger was welling up within him. Despite how heartfelt the words sounded, all it did was infuriate him to the point all he could say was, "Bull."

A silence fell over the two as they stared each other down. It was several moments before the Joker responded with a chuckle. "Heh, it was worth a shot."

The Dark Knight didn't know whether to be satisfied with the admission, or enraged that the Joker tried to use his emotions against him. The madman had tried to tie them together with a sense of camaraderie from shared emotional anguish, twisting it with his deceit.

If he hadn't been tied down, he fight have tried strangling him.

"You can believe me, or don't, it matters not to me," the Joker replied then. "In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter. No matter how much you deny it, you and I are much more alike than the Underwear Brigade."

Batman's first instinct was the vehemently refute that notion, when something caught his eye. Over the Joker's left shoulder, he spotted movement through one of the gaps in the wall. Darting his eyes to the next hole, he watched carefully for whatever it was to appear again. He was rewarded by something dark passing by again.

Glancing back to the Joker, he forced himself to calm down. If he was going to get out of this predicament alive, he needed to keep his wit about him. The Calvary, so to speak, was here. All he needed to do was keep the Joker's attention right on him so that he didn't realize something was up. It wouldn't take much since the green-haired man loved to talk.

"And how did you come to that conclusion?" he asked.

In response, the Joker reached out and rapped his knuckles against the side of his head. "Hello, have you not been listening to a word I've said?" He then sucked in a breath and blew it out through pursed lips, causing a lock of his hair to flip about. "I suppose I should've known better."

He then leaned in, not as close as before, but enough that the vigilante could smell the other man's breath. "You and I have both had bad days. It has shaped who we are and what we've become. Those heroes, they haven't tasted defeat, much less been at rock bottom. Imagine if they were to have their entire world shattered before their eyes—do you honestly think they would stay the same?"

"They would grieve," Batman rebutted. "They would mourn; that's natural. I have no doubt they would recover."

A smirk appeared on the Joker's face. He then raised a hand and began waving a finger in front of the dark-clad man's face. "I wouldn't be so sure about that. Think about it: we're both men. What's the worse that we could do when we're sad and blue? Punch a hole in a wall? Beat our wives with beer bottles? Blow up half a city?"

"Get. To. The. Point," Batman growled through gritted teeth.

"I would if you would let me. Now here it is, so pay attention. We're two Average Joes—well, maybe not average, but the damage we could do is contained at best, pointless at worst." The Joker then leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "But with Superman and them? They have powers that make them virtual Gods. If someone killed Ma and Pa Superman, what do you think he'll do? Would he become a killer like me? Or would he try to impose his will like you? Both maybe?"

"Neither," the vigilante shot back.

"Oh, I highly doubt that. Though alien he may be, a higher standard he strives for, he still likes to pretend he's human."

That made the blood in Batman's veins freeze. Was...was it possible the Joker knew about Clark Kent? The reference to Ma and Pa Kent was too much of a coincidence not to be. All of his worry though, came to naught as the Joker said in a upstanding voice, "I stand for Truth, Justice, and the American Way." His voice then returned to his normal tone. "Sheesh, can the guy get any more corny than that?"

The corner of Batman's mouth twitched up as a small smirk appeared on his face. "Jealous?" he baited.

The pale man bit into instantly. "Between wearing long underwear on summer days and this spiffy suit, I'll take my own threads, thank you."

The Dark Knight then leaned forward as far as he could, the smirk still on his face. "You know what I think? I think you really are jealous."

The Joker scoffed. "You can't be serious."

"Oh, but I am. The way I see it, Superman gets all of this attention and is adored by everyone. It the same kind of attention that you want, but in all of your neurotic selfishness, you strive for any and all attention. You dress up in fancy clothes, you murder people without remorse, all so that people will pay you that same attention that he receives without even trying."

"Shut up," he growled.

"Why? Does the truth hurt? It does, doesn't it? You tried to be a good guy and do good things, but no one ever bothered to thank you. So when you started to hurt people, you found people noticed you and you couldn't wait to feel those eyes on you, watching you. So you figured, why be a hero when being a bad guy is so much more easier."

"Oh, you're trying to psychoanalyze me now?"

"I don't have to. I knew what you were the first moment I saw you. There is no way on this Earth that I could ever be the same as you. At the end of the day, people won't be lumping us together, but instead it'll be me and Superman—"

"Don't you _dare_ say it," the Joker interrupted, anger evident in his voice. "You were about to call yourself a hero, weren't you? Well guess what, you aren't! I bet you don't even consider yourself one, not when you're standing with freaks like them!"

"Oh, so they're freaks now?"

"Of course they are! And why you want to put yourself with them is beyond me! Why pretend to be a fake God when you can be so much more? You're the Bat King! The entire world knows this! And if it weren't for those freaks, it would be you they lavish their praise on, you they would adore. Why else do you think I'm doing all this for? For my health? Without them, it'll be just like the old days where you were strong and proud. Can't you see I'm trying to help you?!"

"By what? Destroying their reputations? Killing them in cold blood so I'm the only one left?"

"Yes!" The Joker was screaming shrilly by now, his cool demeanor lost in his fury. "When you stand with them, you look like some silly kid in a Halloween costume! Don't think the other bad guys haven't been saying that about you, because they do. You and I, we can show them just how wrong they are! We can make you into the very thing you became when you left Gotham: Legend."

"I'm no legend."

"Yes, you are!"

"No, I'm not!"

The Joker shot out of his chair, looming over the vigilante, his face twisted with rage, teeth gnashing together. "What is wrong with you?! I'm running out of way to tell you what you should obviously know! You don't belong in some boring little base in boring Rhode Island. You belong in Gotham! With me. _Only me_ _._ "

Batman leaned as close as he could, his nose nearly touching the other man's. "No, I don't. I'm no God—no 'king.' I'm right where I need to be, between you and the innocent people you intend to kill."

A rage-laced growl came from the green-haired man before he backed away, roughly dropping back into his chair, crossing his arms over his chest sullenly. "I don't know why I even bother," he spat out venomously. "I do all this work and this is the thanks I get? I swear, the next time I'll—"

That was when he heard it. A familiar whirring sound reached his ears right before he felt the rope around his arms loosen due to them being sliced into by a flying shuriken. Lunging forward, the rope snapped as he yanked his arms free and shot them out in front of him, grabbing a surprised Joker by the lapel of his suit. The force of his lunge knocked the clown backwards, causing his chair to tip over and crash loudly onto the floor, the two men landing right on top of it, Batman on top of the Joker.

Because his chair was still tied to his legs, Batman could feel the furniture's back digging into the back of his legs and butt, but he ignored it as he held himself over the Joker and raised a fist up. With a swing, he slammed his punch right into the madman's face, snapping his head to a side. Raising the fist up again, he repeated beat the green-haired man, sending punch after punch into his face.

"Stop," the Joker gasped out.

Batman punched him again.

"Stop!" he shouted next.

Again, he punched him.

"STOP!"

This time, however, when Batman drove his fist down again, the Joker surprisingly got an arm up and blocked the blow. With amazing speed, he then shot his other hand up, the palm ramming underneath the vigilante's chin and forced his head to snap backwards. Rearing back, he was left dazed as the Joker then shoved him away, causing him to collapse onto the floor.

"I said stop!" the Joker roared as he forced himself onto his knees and angled his body to face the dark-clad man. In one hand, a knife appeared, the pissed madman holding it up high. "And when I say stop, you—"

Suddenly, there was a sharp clash and the pale man yelped in pain, the knife flying from his hand. Immediately, Batman moved an arm down began cutting the rope on his leg with his triangle blades.

"Geez Louise, that's hurts!" Joker exclaimed as he was dancing on his feet, nursing his injured hand. He came to a sudden stop though as he looked at something behind Batman. "Oh. My. God," he breathed out before he scowled at the Dark Knight. "Since when did you get a sidekick, huh?! Why didn't someone tell me?! This isn't fair at all! I don't have one!"

The rope gave way as it was sliced apart. Batman changed arms as he worked on the other leg. "You're going down, Joker," he growled.

"Uh, no, I'm not." With that, the Joker spun around on his feet and darted off to the door, rushing through it and slamming it closed behind him. By then, Batman had freed himself of his bindings and was back on his feet.

However, movement from behind him forced him to make a stop gesture with his hand. Turning his head, Cassan...Batgirl stood there, her lithe body coming to a stop. "I'll pursue him," he told the girl as he pointed at himself. He then pointed to her, "You head him off."

Batgirl straightened out her posture before she gave a sharp nod in response.

Turning away, Batman first moved to where his belt lay, picking it up and wrapping it around his hips, buckling it securely. Satisfied, he then eyed the door before he rushed towards it. One way or another, this all was going to end tonight.

* * *

This was a chapter I've been waiting a long time to write. A huge part of it was inspired by the Injustice: Gods Among Us comic series, specifically the scene where Batman is interrogating the Joker following the destruction of Metropolis. There was this one panel were the Joker looked genuinely sympathetic when he spoke of what it took for Batman to do what he does, then compared it to what Superman had just gone through. If there was ever one panel that described that entire series, that was it.

To guest: Manchester 789: Very little BMWW here I'm afraid. Always next chapter though...I think.


	21. Amongst The Pantheon

The first thing Batman ran into after leaping through the doorway was a metal platform, one that ended with a railing. Off to his right was a metal staircase, easily six steps down to the ground. Eyes forward, he stared right at a giant tank, a catwalk circling around it at its lower third.

The room was large, though there was a distinct lack of windows. Either they were in the middle of the steel mill, or were somewhere beneath it. At this point, it didn't matter.

Unfortunately, there was no sign of the Joker. Knowing him, he was heading for an exit and the only one Batman saw was to his right, situated on a second level with a large staircase leading up to it. About halfway down, the staircase split into two separate stairwells, one going left, the other right. This was mostly due to a conveyor belt that emerged out from underneath the stairs and extended out onto the storeroom floor.

The lighting was dim, something the vigilante found strange. It was almost as if the lights had just been turned on, the generators slowly powering up until they were able to put out adequate voltage.

No, the Joker was somewhere in here. He had kept the lights off for a reason and only just now wanted them on. Slowly, Batman walked down the nearby staircase, his head turning from side to side as he searched for any sign of movement. Eyeing a corner of the room that looked much like a workshop, he began walking towards it, heading towards the conveyor belt. He didn't get fair as a soft sound caught his attention.

Body stiffening, Batman jerked his head to look to his right. There was a nearby wall with a red box hanging from it. Jagged pieces of glass lined what had been the face of the box, broken shards lying on the ground in front of it. There were a couple of thin wooden pieces sticking out from the back, an outline of an ax indicating what had been resting on the sticks. It seemed someone had wanted the emergency fire axe. Staring at it, he noticed a dangling piece of glass barely hanging onto the red box, gravity finally breaking it off and causing it to fall to the floor, making the same soft sound he had heard earlier.

Tearing his eyes away, he continued on his previous course, leaping on top of the conveyor belt once he reached it. He was about to drop off of it on the other side when he heard another sound, this time a sharp whistle.

Jerking his head, Batman found himself looking at the large tank, warily noting what looked like a skull appearing its surface. It was almost as if the contents on the tank were warning anyone and everyone that it was something bad. There were no distinct lines, so much as the image was fading into-rather than out of-existence.

However, what really got his attention was the Joker standing on top of the tank, moving his hands to cup around his mouth. "Whatcha doing down there, Batsy?" he called out in his manic manner. "C'mon up, the party's over here!"

The madman then vanished from sight as he backed away from the edge of the tank. Pulling out his grapple, Batman fired it at a catwalk that hung above the tank, hearing the claw clang from impact. Hitting the retraction button, he flew up into the air, releasing the line once he had enough momentum to soar until he landed right on top of the vat.

He froze the moment he touched down, his eyes widening in shock. Forming a circle on top of the tank were the members of the Justice League. Each hero stood as still as a statue, their bodies frozen in various poses. The closest one to him was Green Lantern, who was standing as straight as a rail, his ring hand extended out in front of his chest while balled into a fist, his other hand gripping his wrist.

Off to Lantern's right was Flash, who was in a running man's pose. His balance had to be perfect considering he was only standing on one foot and barely touching down with the toe of his other foot, leaning forward as he appeared to be charging, and wasn't so much as trembling from holding the stance. Next was Superman, he too standing much like John Stewart, except his hands were both fists and were pressed into his hips. His head was even tilted upward as if he were looking to the ceiling.

Slowly, Batman began to walk by them, looking at the others. Diana was next in the circle, one of her hands extended out like Lantern's; the exception was that instead of holding her wrist, her other hand dangled at her side, a toy spear in her grasp.

J'onn's pose seemed to lack the creativity of the others, his cape enveloping him, hiding his body from the world. Lastly, Hawkgirl's seemed the most precarious as she stood on one foot, her other was bent at the knee and elevated. Her wings were spread out as if she had been flying, one of her arms extended above her head and holding a toy mace.

However, despite all of their poses, each one had markings on them. They were more noticeable on the women than the men due to their costumes exposing more of their skin, but due to that, he was able to observe the redness of the symbols. Standing next to Hawkgirl, he studied the markings until he smelled a very familiar smell.

Blood.

The vigilante's face hardened. So this was what the Joker had used the blood for. Though the symbols held no real significance that he could make out, they were obvious there for decoration. Not only was the skin painted, but so were the clothes. A lot of people died just for this aesthetic idea.

"Now, now, Dork Knight, don't admire the Bird Goddess too much—Cheeks might get jealous."

Tearing his eyes away from his comrades, he found the Joker standing on the catwalk above his head. How he had gotten there so quickly, he didn't know, but it honestly didn't matter at this point. "What have you done?" he demanded.

"I'm _so_ glad you asked," the clown jeered. "As you've probably realized, I've been experimenting with my Joker Venom. Ya see, I wasn't sure the original was going to pack the same bang as it did in Gotham, so I wanted to see what else I could do with it. What you see before you was a byproduct of one of my experiments—a paralytic agent that can stop the mightiest heroes in the world!"

That explained why the League members weren't moving. In fact, as his attention returned to the Leaguers, he could clearly spot their eyes staring at him. The sclera of their eyeballs were taking on a pinkish tint, if not becoming completely red due to irritation. They were completely unable to blink.

The dark-clad man could only imagine what went into such a concoction that could hold even the Flash at bay. However, that got his mind thinking and the thoughts he was receiving were not ones he liked. To have this effect, either a massive dose was given, or the potency was so great that permanent paralysis could be induced.

"Now I know what you're thinking: how much of that lovely potion did I give them?" the Joker said, interrupting his thoughts. "And I'll tell you! I gave them so much that they have literal minutes before they're frozen like Greek statues for the rest of their days—and probably right up until their bowels explode from pressure and their insides rot. Is this not my greatest masterpiece, or what?"

 _God damn it._ No wonder the Joker had wanted to spend so much time with him. He had been wasting the time away until the effects of his toxin became permanent. And knowing the maniac like he did, there was no antidote to reverse the effects either. That meant he needed to come up with something fast with no time, or materials to make a proper cure.

So lost in his musings was he that he didn't notice the shadow growing at his feet. Fortunately, his body sensed approaching danger, which caused Batman to react instantly and leap to a side.

A moment later and the Joker landed a foot away from where he had been standing, the head of an axe colliding with the top of the vat and splitting it like a log. Well, to be honest, it just left a large crack on the surface, but it took a very powerful swing to cause that much damage.

"Oh honey!" the Joker called out as he hefted the axe up off the tank and held its shaft with both hands. "I have a question I'd like to _axe_ you. Tell me what you think: if I let you have full custody of the mini-Bat, would you give me half of everything else—including your body?"

Without warning, the madman lunged at him, swinging the axe from right to left. Immediately, Batman backed away, avoiding the attack only to back up again from the back-swing. Over and over, the Joker swung at him, forcing the vigilante to continue retreating to avoid each strike.

However, it seemed the psychopath had very little patience with not actually hitting him. Tiring of the side sweeps, he then swung the axe high above his head and then brought it down. Again, Batman backed away, allowing the head of the axe to bash onto the top of the tank. This time, though, the dark-clad man bounced back, stepping on the shaft of the axe just below the head with his left foot, pinning it down.

Pulling back his right fist, he then threw it forward, slamming it right into the Joker's face and knocking him backwards. The pale man even lost his grip on the axe handle, leaving the weapon sticking out of the vat as he sailed through the air, landing on his back hard on the tank and skidding across it until he came to a stop.

With his right foot landing back on the tank, Batman made to charge at the Joker; however, he was once more reminded how quickly the man could recover from blows. Before he had taken two steps, the Joker suddenly flung his upper body up, bracing it with one hand behind him. The other one shot up and grabbed the flower on his suit jacket.

An instant later a spray of green acid flew from the flower, causing Batman's eyes to widen before he spun to a side, his body twisting as he followed the acid spray flying by him. Horror appeared on his face when he watch the fluid land on the vat, as well as covering a part of Diana's plastic spear. Even more alarming was that the stream had landed close to the dark-haired woman's hand.

Batman rushed towards the Amazon, skidding to a stop in front of her as he grabbed at the toy spear and pulled it out of her grasp. Tossing it away, it disappeared over the edge of the tank as it flew to the floor below. At the very least, that stopped the acid from eating its way up the spear and actually burning Diana's hand.

Turning around, the Dark Knight spotted the Joker back on his feet. He was over by the fallen axe, picking it up once more. Glancing to Diana and back, the vigilante knew this fight could quickly get out of control. If the Joker wanted to, he could start hacking at the paralyzed heroes instead of him, doing who knows how much damage. A legless Flash, Green Lantern without hands, Hawkgirl without her wings—there were too many terrible scenarios that could ruin any one of their lives.

He needed to take this fight elsewhere.

As the Joker raised the axe up, Batman pulled out another bat-shaped shuriken. As quickly as he could he began to tap his thumb on its body, entering a set of coordinates into the embedded computer. Finished, he then threw the shuriken at the green-haired man, the projectile spinning through the air towards its target.

For once, the Joker froze at the incoming weapon. However, the shuriken passed right by his head, strands of his hair waving from the passing wind. The Joker blinked his eyes rapidly, unsure of what had just transpired.

Then he sneered at the vigilante. "What was that?!" he spat out incredulously. "I know you're dressed like a flying rodent, but I didn't think you were actually blind like one! What, did your bat-sonar have a glitch? I mean, I was standing still! You couldn't have had an easier target!"

However, far behind the clown, the shuriken began to slow in its flight, seeming to hover in one place for a whole second. It then began flying back towards the two men until he collided with the back of the Joker's head, causing him to cry out as he stumbled forward.

Rushing towards him, Batman kept his hands at his sides until the last moment, when he shot them out to grab the axe at the handle just below the head. Yanking it to a side, he spun to a side and rammed his elbow into the Joker's chest, knocking him back and fortunately causing him to let go of the axe once more.

Jumping back a step, Batman made sure to put more distance between them as he raised his leg closest to his foe and lashed out with it, landing a sidekick to the Joker's abdomen and sending him stumbling as he tried to recover his balance and breath at the same time. In the meantime, the dark-clad man twisted his upper body to his right, holding the axe as far as he could with both of his hands on it. Jerking to his left, he hurled the axe into the air, sending it sailing over the edge of the tank and watched it fall to the floor below.

With the weapon out of action, the Dark Knight turned himself to face his opponent once more. However, he caught the man pulling something out from beneath his suit jacket. Before he had time to wonder just what was going on, the Joker threw the object at him.

Instinctively, Batman shot his hands up and caught it, feeling the odd, rubbery softness of it. He only had a second to realize he was holding a whoopie cushion, right before his squeezing hands caused it to expel the air within it, a loud farting noise being made. Unfortunately, a green gas was blasted out with the air, hitting him right in the face. Immediately he dropped the whoopie cushion, coughing roughly as he began to stumble. He felt a tickling sensation begin to grow within his chest and abdomen, growing stronger with every cough he made. Even had he not felt that strange feeling, the scent of the gas alone told the vigilante just want he had been exposed to.

Joker Venom.

His body began to tremble as a chuckle worked its way up his throat and out of his mouth. The chuckle grew stronger until he was actually laughing heartily. Losing his balance, Batman dropped to one knee as he wrapped his arms around his quivering belly.

"That's it," the Joker's voice cooed from somewhere behind him. "Laugh. Give in to the laughter. Embrace it and become what I've always known you could become."

A harsh burst of laughter flew out of Batman's mouth as he leaned forward, trying to brace himself over the involuntary laughs. Faintly, he felt the Joker's presence behind him. "Oh, that's so great," he said with joy. "I've never heard you laugh, Batsy. It's like music to my ears."

And then, Batman stopped his laughing. Gone was the urge as it was crushed within his body. Balling his right hand into a fist, he flung it up, the back of his hand slamming into a face right by his right shoulder.

There was a surprised cry and a moment later Batman stood up on his feet and slowly turned around. The Joker stood a short distance away, his hands clutching his nose as his face was twisted with pain. "I think you almost broke my nose!" he screamed with rage before his sunken eyes focused right on the Dark Knight. "Why did you stop laughing?!"

"Because I wanted to," was Batman's reply. "I figured you'd use your Joker Venom at some point, so I inoculated myself with the antidote before I came."

Hate glowed from the Joker's eyes as he glared daggers at him. "How dare you play with my feelings. All I wanted to do was make you great again and this is how you repay me?"

A smirk appeared on the dark-clad man's face. "I thought you wanted a divorce."

He had expected to see anger, if not more loathing from the clown. However, that all changed when a smile appeared on his face. "Touche, Batsy. But unfortunately for you, you're out of time. In case, you've forgotten, your Boy Scout Troop are now my merit badges. My paralytic should have taken full effect and they're stuck as oversized Barbie and Ken dolls."

Slowly, the Joker began to edge his way to the edge of the tank, where the top of a ladder was bolted. "So, it doesn't matter anymore whether you see things my way, or not—you have no choice now! Well, actually, I know you're going to try and free these suckers anyways, so you better get to work. Who knows, maybe you have two more seconds before you have to have a mass recruitment drive."

Batman clinched his hands into tight fists, yet remained rooted where he stood. This entire time, the Joker had been delaying him, trying to buy time for his toxin to do enough damage that there would be no way to reverse the effects. And with no actual antidote, there wasn't much he could do to save the rest of the League.

 _Think, damn you, think!_

He needed something to buy himself some time. Much like using a sedative so that the Joker Venom didn't kill its infected, he needed something similar to either weaken the poison, or outright null its effects. Considering the toxin was purposefully inducing tetanus, it was possible that if he used something to reverse those effects, that would be enough to overwhelm the paralysis.

Fortunately, he could think of one thing that had to potential to do such a thing; unfortunately, he only had a limited supply—read: one—of such a countermeasure. That meant he had to use it on the right person.

Reaching to his belt, Batman pulled out a syringe, his thumb depressing one of its ends. At the opposite end, a long, sharp needle shot out, it's point gleaming in the light. Sparing a glance to the Joker, he caught sight of the clown climbing down the ladder and disappearing from sight. At least there wouldn't be any more delaying tactics.

Immediately, Batman stormed over to Flash. Kneeling down, he held the syringe in front of the man's chest, the needle hovering over his heart. "Listen carefully, Flash, we're out of time as it is," he hissed into the speedster's ear. "I'm about to give you a dose of epinephrine. This should allow you to burn through the toxin the Joker gave you and let you move."

Without further warning, Batman plunged the needle into Flash's chest, depressing the other end of the syringe again and injected the epinephrine. The results were instantaneous.

With a loud gasp, Flash collapsed on top of the vat, or would have had Batman not caught him. Pulling the Epipen out, he dropped it to the ground as he slowly laid Flash down. Over and over, the red-clad man panted, fighting to catch his breath.

Unfortunately, Batman couldn't let him have it. "Flash, you're the only one fast enough to get your hands on six Epipens. I don't care where, or how you get them, but you need to get them injected into the others five seconds ago. Get on your feet and go—now."

"Yeah...yeah, I'm going," Flash gasped out. At first it seemed the speedster wasn't even going to move, content on catching his breath. However, before Batman could issue a reprimand, the red-clad man disappeared in a red blur, wind blowing his cape wildly to a side.

Despite the man's known immaturity, Batman knew that if there was anyone that could pull off this stunt, it was going to be him. Standing back up, the vigilante moved to the edge of the tank, catching sight of the Joker finishing his climb up the staircase and heading right for the exit.

Eyes narrowing, the Dark Knight knew what he had to do.

* * *

This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

Everything had been going along so well too. The Justice Dorks had been falling into his hands, Batsy seemed like he was seeing the light. They were in the fourth quarter, runners on third and first, and all that ingrate had to do was hit the damn free throw!

Running down the hall, the Joker flew passed doors and turns, not even bothering to slow down until he had to make a sharp right. Skidding across the floor, he forced himself into the new corridor, one that was short and came to an abrupt dead end. Which was okay—he had his reasons for wanting this place.

Rushing towards the wall, the green-haired man hit a lonely button on the wall and immediately the cement divided right down the middle, the two parts sliding in either direction. A steel cage appeared in sight, the Joker grabbing the front gate and shoving it to a side roughly. Stepping into the elevator, he closed the gate behind him and jab one of the buttons on the floor panel.

The elevator began to rise, the depressed clown leaning against the back of the elevator as he hung his head. They had been so close to a happy ending, you could practically taste the rainbows and unicorns. They were magically delicious in case you were wondering.

But then Bats had to call in that little brat, who dared to wear the iconic bat on her flat chest—at least he was assuming she was flat; you really couldn't tell because of the armor. And then he had the audacity to try and save— _save_ —those hapless losers. A clown could cry from all of the injustice.

How did everything go so wrong, so fast? He didn't understand! He had made a plan; it had worked without a hitch; it should have been a success! Yet, it was crumbling all around him. Why? Why, why, why?!

He sighed then. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

If there was anything to take out of this, he had been so, _soooo_ close. All he needed to do was fine tune a couple details here and there and badda bing, he'd be back in business. The Joker raised his head up, a smile appearing on his pale face. _Next time,_ he chanted in his head, _there will always be a next time._

Coincidentally, the elevator came to a jarring halt. Grabbing the gate, the clown pulled it to a side just as the wall in front of him shifted to a side. Once he was able to, the Joker entered a garage, where a couple vans were parked. At a quick pace, he hurried to the closest one, jumping into the driver's seat and lovingly caressed the set of keys that were in the ignition. He loved it when someone was kind enough to leave keys in a parked car. You never knew when you needed to escape in a hurry.

Now that he thought about it, hadn't he himself left the keys there? My, he was very thoughtful.

Revving the engine to life, he shifted the gearshift into drive. Before he could punch the accelerator though, something bounced off the hood of the van. Because he had been looking at the gearshift, the Joker missed what it was, jerking his head up way too late to see whatever it was. All he knew was that the truck was softly rocking from side to side.

Hmm, this seemed like the opening to a bad horror movie.

Well, unlike the mindless twits in those movies, the Joker knew just what to do. Pressing hard on the accelerator, the van lurched forward. He didn't even attempt to open up the garage door, opting to ram the front of the van through it. The flimsy metal door shattered apart, jagged edges scraping against the side of the van as it plowed through the newly-made hole. A dark, dank room was soon replaced with the great outdoors, not to mention a lovely gate up ahead. _Bumper, don't fail me now!_

Unfortunately, that's when things took a decidedly sideways turn. At that moment in time, the sound of loud _POP!s_ rang out, followed swiftly by the van turning to a side. The Joker tried to correct it by spinning the wheel the other way, but found his truck going too far in the other direction, which caused him to turn back the other way.

 _Huh, I do believe I have a couple flat tires._

That was the first thought to cross the Joker's mind. The second was the van spinning out of his control, causing him to yell in surprise. "WHHHHOOOOAAAAA!" Due to momentum though, he was also skidding across asphalt with no idea what was going to happen.

The world spun around him, making the clown want to hurl. _Oh Lord, make it stop! Too much spinning! Too much spinning!_

Thankfully, the spinning did stop. Not so thankfully, it was because the back of the van slammed into the gate and stopped all movement from it. Not that he was complaining mind you, but when you had a getaway car, you really didn't want it stopping just before you got out of the driveway.

However, that gave the Joker a good luck back at the garage, and wouldn't you know it, that little girl in Daddy's hand-me-down Bat-gear was standing in the hole of the busted garage door. Two and two made four at that moment and the Joker realized just who was responsible for his flat tires.

"Why that little, insufferable, pint-sized Bat-bitch! You owe me new tires!"

The Joker even shook his fist at the little girl, so that there was no way she could mistaken his outrage. He would've gotten out of the van and showed her what his favorite handgun liked to do too, when something large and black landed on the hood, blocking out the sight of the girl-Bat.

The Joker only had a short moment in which to notice the Bat Symbol on the black thing's chest and mutter, "Uh oh," right before a fist punched through the windshield and grabbed him by his shirt. He was helpless as he was dragged over the steering wheel and through the broken glass window, causing it to shatter completely.

The next thing the green-haired man noticed, was that he was being held by Batsy. "OW!" he shouted at the lout. "Do you have any idea how much that hurts?!"

"Not as much as this," Batman growled back, right before he leaned his head back and swung it forward.

The stars the Joker saw following the headbutt didn't quite make up for all the pain he felt in his face. The ooey-gooey blackness to come with unconsciousness though, that was something special.

* * *

To Manchester 789: A small moment here, perhaps. At least he cares.


	22. Insane

**We're all insane  
In a beautiful way  
We won't change, until the tide comes  
The tide comes  
We're all insane  
In a beautiful way  
We won't change, until the tide comes  
And pulls us all away**

 **-Insane by The Word Alive**

* * *

It had been a long time since they had been here. It brought a lot of memories of simpler times, of when they were first starting out with the concept of the League. Never had Diana thought they would return to it, but considering everything that had transpired, it was at least serviceable to their needs.

The Amazon was seated at a table in the middle of a warehouse. There was plenty of space for the sparsely placed furniture—meaning they only had the table, a few chairs, and a nearby counter with a coffee maker placed on it. There had been a lot more once, but once they moved into their now-destroyed headquarters, they had taken much of what they needed there.

Since it was daytime, sunlight poured through the large windows that were placed at regular intervals high upon the walls, even through the large plastic sheets that hung over them. The air was stale, the result of the disuse of a large fan that was primarily used to move the air around.

Also seated at the table were John Stewart and J'onn. It was good to see the Green Lantern back on his feet. His exposure to the dust-like Joker Venom had proven to be more debilitating than previously believed and his presence had been missed. He had taken a leave of absence to recover and was just returning to active duty.

In fact, they all had taken time for their personal projects. Diana had spent these last three months protecting Gateway while searching for any leftover plots devised by the Joker. As luck would have it, it seemed the mad clown had left her city largely alone. That had been a weight lifted off her shoulders when she came to that realization.

While she had kept up with the activities of the others, there wasn't a lot that required the team to assemble. Central City and Metropolis were slowly rebuilding, though each had their own challenges. According to Flash, the citizens were wary of each other following their mass Jokerization. Trust was slow to build, but like the city itself, it was being restored.

The same could not be said of Superman and Metropolis, unfortunately. It did not help that Lex Luthor was stoking the anti-kryptonian sentiment, keeping some thing that should have died down by now still burning as brightly as it had following the attack. The MPD had been calling upon the Man of Steel less and less as well. The misery Superman felt was palpable whenever she saw him.

Diana had no doubt that the current distrust would eventually go away given enough time and distance from the actual attack. Patience was its own virtue here. In fact, she intended on talking with Superman after the meeting; she highly expected he was in need of comforting words from a friend.

Speaking of which, after all the time since the Joker's capture, there had been a distinct lack of Batman's presence. It had taken three weeks for the Amazon to realize that she hadn't seen him in awhile. In fact, they hadn't spared once in the three months period.

That hadn't been for lack of trying. Diana had made multiple calls to the Batcave, the last being two weeks ago. Each time she had successfully gotten in contact with the man, he would deny her request for a spar, claiming that he did not have the time to participate. At first she had accepted his refusals at face value, seeing as they all had been tried physically and emotionally lately. That had changed lately as she had become more and more annoyed with each denial. There was still some issues they need to resolve and she was determined to see that done.

Hopefully that would be occurring today. Yesterday, out of the blue, she had received a communique from the Dark Knight, requesting her presence at the old Justice League building—the warehouse in which she current waited in. They had original used this place in the early days of the League to meet and conduct their activities. It came as no surprise to find out that Batman had found this out.

That's when a door open, causing the three heroes to look towards the front entrance. Passing through the doorway was Hawkgirl, a mace dangling at her hip. There was a shine to it that told Diana it was relatively new. It made sense because her old mace had been rendered unusable and thus required a replacement. It seemed that's what the Thanagarian had been up to during the League's hiatus.

The redhead paused for a moment as she looked at the room's inhabitants. "This is all who came?" she asked, surprise evident in her voice.

"Yeah," John answered her gruffly, his arms crossed over his chest. "I know Flash is in route, but haven't heard anything from Superman."

Hawkgirl approached the table, taking a seat in her old chair. Amusingly enough, they all had taken the seats they had prior to the construction of the Justice League Headquarters. "And what about the guy that called this meeting? Where is he?"

"Not here," the Lantern said, shrugging his shoulders.

"He should be here," Diana added, trying to be reassuring. Surely Batman had a reason for not being present at the moment.

"He better be," the Thanagarian muttered. "I was in the middle of something when he pretty much barked at me to be on time. If he can't be on time, then I don't see any point why I have to be."

"What were you doing?" the Amazon asked, hoping that a change in subject would relieve her sister of her foul mood.

"Nothing too important. There was a high speed chase I was in the middle of stopping when the guy calls, asked if I'm busy, then orders me here." She paused for a moment. "Should I be surprised he even knows about this place?"

"I was at first," John admitted, "but then I remembered who I was talking with."

"It would seem we weren't the only ones keeping tabs," J'onn offered.

That was when the doors opened again, this time Superman appearing in sight. The Man of Steel did a visible headcount on them before he began to walk towards them. "I take it we're still waiting for Flash?" he asked humorously.

That was a welcoming sign to Diana. Normally when Superman wasn't in a good mood, he did not joke. Though she could see that the Kryptonian was tired, it wasn't due to his issues with his city. Still, she was going to have a word with him later.

"We're also missing Batman," John informed him, leaning back in his chair as he sought to get more comfortable.

Superman, oddly enough, didn't seem perturbed by that. "Either he's going to give Flash a run for his money on how close to being late they'll be, or he's already here."

That caused multiple heads to turn to him. "What makes you think that?" Hawkgirl questioned him.

Superman just shrugged his shoulders. "No reason. He usually just pops up when you least expect him to. I don't see why this would be any different."

Now that was a fair point. Though Diana was certain the vigilante wasn't in the building—something her heightened scenes would have informed her if he was indeed here—Superman's idea was not without merit. Confident in her abilities as she was, Batman had managed to sneak up on her on a few occasions.

John and Hawkgirl, in the meantime, had looked to J'onn. "Do you sense him here?" the Green Lantern asked him.

J'onn didn't even bother doing a sweep as he shook his head in the negative. "I've checked every so often since I arrived and I have not detected Batman's presence."

Suddenly, a stiff breeze blew by, and Flash was suddenly in his seat, leaning back in his chair with his arms propped up behind his head and his feet crossed at the ankle on the edge of the table. "I'm here," he announced lazily. "I haven't missed anything, have I?"

"Just in time, as always," John grumbled more to himself than anyone. Then in a louder voice, he said, "We're just waiting on Batman now."

That caught Flash's attention. "Huh? Bats isn't here?" His head turned from side to side as he looked about the room. "Would you look at that," he remarked.

"I guess that means he's officially late," Hawkgirl surmised, crossing her arms over her chest. "Someone call him up and see what's taking him so long."

Diana was more than ready to volunteer. Her hand was even next to her ear when she noticed something. The area around the six of them had suddenly begun to brighten, a white light blinding her to the point where she squeezed her eyes shut. Faintly she heard surprised cries from the others.

And then the air around her was different. Even through her closed eyelids, she could sense the light was gone, allowing her to brave opening her eyes. The moment she did so, she found that she was no longer in the warehouse, but in a place of metal and steel.

If the warehouse was considered big, this new place was massive. What looked like multiple levels reached high up, a center column emerging from the floor and ending up at the ceiling. There were a few balconies extending out from the column, along with a bridge or two that criss-crossed from one side of the room to the other.

Surprisingly, the Amazon was no longer sitting, finding that she was standing in a wide open area that circled around the cylindrical room. It was the same with the rest of the Justice League. The only thing of note was a large glass window, one that repeated at various intervals around the level. She frowned. From where she stood, the only thing she could see through the window was darkness.

"What is this place?" Hawkgirl asked in awe, her head turning this way and that as she looked at everything.

"No idea," John answered her, walking over by the window. His head happened to turn towards the glass, which made him stop in mid-step. "Oh my God," he gasped.

"What is it?" Superman asked before he floated towards the Lantern, Diana doing the same. In fact, everyone was heading towards their comrade, only to focus right on the window. Landing, Diana did the same and discovered just what was captivating everyone's attention.

A large planet was visible through the window now that she was closer to it. The whites, browns, blues, and green made it truly a sight to behold. Faintly, Diana wondered if this is how the Gods saw their world from Olympus.

"Guys...I think we're in space," Flash said then.

"Indeed," J'onn agreed with him. "The question, however, is how."

"Perhaps I can answer that."

Collectively, their heads snapped around to find Batman standing in plain sight, his cape covering his body from sight. "Welcome to the Watchtower," he greeted them.

"Watchtower?" Superman asked incredulous before a thought appeared in his head. "Do you mean—?"

"This is the new headquarters of the Justice League."

Suddenly, Diana realized just why the vigilante had been absent these last three months. He had been consumed with designing and building this place for them. A warm feeling began welling up in her. She couldn't wait to explore this place.

"You had this place built just for us?" John suddenly asked. "Just in the last three months? That's pretty fast for a place that has to be this technologically sophisticated."

"Built, no," Batman replied as he turned around and gazed at the center column. "This is an old observatory satellite that was abandoned over a decade ago. I've spent the last couple of months having it upgraded, refurbished, and equipped for our needs."

His hand then extended out from beneath his cape, gesturing to the rest of the Watchtower. "There's a Monitor Room, conservatory, kitchen, hanger, medical facilities, and reactor. As you're already aware, there is also a teleporter at least until a spacecraft can be built as a backup, or for interplanetary missions."

"Should I be surprised he was able to build a teleporter?" Flash asked in a hushed whisper.

"He would have had access to the blueprints of the original one due to the download of the black box," J'onn replied to him, not bothering to lower his voice, instead keeping his normal stoic tone. "It wouldn't have been too difficult to construct one from those.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," John interjected then. "If he rebuilt the teleporter, then what's going to stop another maniac like the Joker from using it to get up here and then crash it into Earth?"

Batman turned his head to regard the Lantern. "I've taken the liberty of updating the security protocols. Along with access codes, biometrics will determine if the access code matches the user's biological imprints. Height, weight, and build, along with a few other internal checks will make sure only Superman can use his access code and not the Joker. The same goes for everyone."

"Impressive," Hawkgirl complimented him, stepping towards the dark-clad man. "Mind telling me how you got all our data? I'm pretty sure you didn't just eyeball us and got it one hundred percent correct."

"You're right," he acknowledged as he returned his attention back to the rest of the space station. "I got it when I beamed you up here."

"I'm assuming a computer recorded these values when you activated the teleporter," J'onn stated. "So now that we're in the system, I'm assuming that we cannot teleporte others without some security protocol activating."

"If you're wondering if you can randomly teleport a vigilante to do an undercover mission for you without their permission, no, you won't be able to do that." A bubble of humor welled up within Diana at those words. While it was a parting shot, she knew better than to accept the man's words at face value now. He was most definitely teasing them.

"If you are wanting to do such a thing, a new profile will have to be added before transport, and then it has to be done on the Watchtower itself. Otherwise, the target won't be teleported up. If, for some reason, the target is teleported up without matching biometrics, the teleportation pad goes into lockdown where a cage made out of a space-age polymer will descend down and trap whomever is on the pad."

"Pretty sure that won't contain Superman," Hawkgirl remarked.

"No, it won't, but anyone with Superman's strength isn't going to try and teleport in, they'll just bust in through a wall," Batman returned bluntly. "Which in the case of a hull breach, the station also goes into lockdown and will close off any room to protect the rest of the station from the vacuum. In other words, don't try and break this place, otherwise you'll die."

There was a short silence before the redhead replied, "Fair enough."

Again, there was a silence before Flash loudly cleared his throat. "Soooo, are we going to get the grand tour?"

"I spent most of the morning making sure the Watchtower was operational, so no, I'll have to decline," Batman answered, much to Diana chagrin. "I'm expected in Gotham, so I'll leave your tour up to you."

Then the vigilante walked off, heading to a different part of the space station. Watching him go, Diana glanced to her comrades, seeing they were beginning to congregate together to discuss this new development. Seeing as no one was paying her any mind, she followed the departing vigilante, entering a large hallway that she hadn't noticed before.

Though she wasn't trying to be stealthy, Batman seemed to think she was as he merely tilted his head to a side even as he kept walking. "Is there something you want, Wonder Woman?" he asked.

Speeding up her pace, the dark-haired woman caught up to him. "I was beginning to wonder if you had lost interest with us," she attempted to joke. She wasn't sure if her humorous anecdote was accepted considering the Dark Knight didn't laugh. "You've been busy the last few months."

"I have," he acknowledged.

"So, is there a place where we can spar? I do hope you included such a facility."

"There is; unfortunately, I don't have the time now to show it to you."

Diana couldn't deny that she felt disappointed in the answer. "Would tomorrow be better for you?" she asked.

Batman actually looked to her, considering her request. Then, "It would—0700 is alright?"

A smile appeared on the Amazon's face. "That works for me, though are you sure that's not passed your bedtime? I hear bats are nocturnal."

"Sounds to me like you're trying to worm your way out of this."

Diana tilted her head up haughtily. "You should know better than anyone that an Amazon never backs down from a challenge."

The corner of the man's mouth twitched up into a smirk. "We'll see about that."

It was then they reached the end of the hall, two large doors sliding apart diagonally. The room the two entered appeared to be the hanger Batman had mentioned earlier. In fact, the Batwing was parked there, it's canopy still opened.

"You flew up here?" the Amazon questioned, giving him a sidelong look.

"You thought I was going to try the teleporter on me?" the vigilante retorted, sounding as if that was the most absurd idea he'd heard. "No thanks. You all seemed more willing to be apart of the testrun."

Diana's mouth dropped open. They had been the guinea pigs for this new teleporter? Why that...that…

"Is that all we are to you?" she growled lowly. "Test subjects? People to be shut out when _you_ deem it necessary? After all this time, why do you still keep us at arm's length?"

If Batman was surprised by her outburst, he didn't show it, nor did he respond, which only aggravated the Amazon. "Our collaborations should have taught you that we are worthy of your trust and respect. None of us deserved to be sidelined, especially when you decided to involve an untested warrior."

This time the dark-clad man deigned to reply. "I made a judgement call and it worked. The Joker didn't expect Batgirl to show when she did and she was instrumental in his capture. Up to then, he had anticipated every single one of our moves. Something needed to change and I made that decision."

"Yet, you could not consult us? Why? It wasn't like the Joker could read minds and pluck the idea out of our heads," Diana retorted.

"How do you explain the Joker obtaining Superman's access codes?" Batman countered, something that made the dark-haired woman pause. "He didn't need special powers, remember? He watched, he planned, and prepared every trap and every attack to the most minute detail. When confronted with that, I had to make the choice, for better or worse."

"So you couldn't include us in that plan? Do you consider us that incompetent?"

"You know I don't think that." The vigilante closed the distance between them, standing mere inches away. "If there had been a way, I would've done it, but there wasn't."

There was a bitter taste in Diana's mouth at that admission. She wanted to believe the man's reasoning, but her upbringing refused to accept it. There was always another option, another way to accomplish the mission. She had to make him see this. "You could have still consulted us. There is a reason we are part of the Justice League; we are all more than just the sum of our powers. You're evidence of that."

That silenced the Dark Knight. It was a few moments before he admitted, "Point."

"You're not alone," Diana continued to press. Just because he had acknowledged her argument did not mean he had accepted it. "You can count on us to be of assistance, no matter what the situation. We can see things that perhaps even you hadn't considered. Trust us."

Again, the vigilante was silent, but ultimately he let out a sigh. "That's something I will work on. I'm not-"

"A team player," the Amazon finished for him, a small smile growing on her face. "I know."

Batman smirked in return. "Touche." What was best described as a comfortable silence fell on the two. For now, Diana was satisfied with their talk.

That changed when the vigilante spoke again. "Before I forget, I'm intending on taking a leave of absence," the dark-clad man said, sending a wave of shock through her. Here she was seeing him for the first time in months and now he was going away again?

"Any particular reason?" she prodded, trying to find out some sort of answer.

"I have a trip I need to make and there's no telling how long I'll be away." Batman stopped walking and turned to face her. "Hopefully it won't take too long, but I'd rather not be in the middle of it and have the comm link buzzing in my ear."

"Oh. So when do you intend on leaving?"

"Tomorrow, after our spar."

The smile returned to Diana's face. "So I'll get a chance to wish you a safe journey."

"If that's how you see it, Princess."

So he wanted to play coy, did he? Well then, let's see how he reacts to this.

Closing the distance between them, Diana leaned in and gave him a chaste kiss on his lips. Much to her satisfaction, the vigilante seemed stunned by the gesture. "That's some incentive for you to show up tomorrow," she whispered lowly to him. She then stepped back before turning around, walking back the way she had come. "0700," she called back over her shoulder, a reminder of their agreed upon time.

She was nearly by the door when she faintly heard, "See you then, Princess."

* * *

The plane landed with a soft jolt. Hands still gripping the joystick, Batman just sat in the cockpit, eyes staring blankly out of the canopy glass.

Despite his physical inactivity, his mind was a whirlwind of thoughts—mostly out of confusion. Diana's farewell on the newly-activated Watchtower had been...unexpected to say the least. Yes, he had noticed her growing presence around him, but he hadn't seen it ever getting that intimate, even if it had been a quick peck of a kiss. She had changed the rules on him at some point.

That was just another thing he'd have to contemplate later.

Though he had been hard at work taking that old Waynetech satellite—one that had been up there since he had been a boy—and retooling it, there was a lot more he had been working on. His conversation with the Joker had opened up a lot of questioned in spite of his more logical self refusing to believe them.

There was no way he and that madman were the same. The clown was a pathological liar, that much he knew without a doubt. He had seen the psych evaluations and reports done at Arkham, heard the recorded tapes of the sessions, and all he saw was an evil man that could manipulate and use even the most guarded of people.

A common subject in the tapes had been the Joker's origin itself. How did he become the way he was, what had created him, where he had come from—many different psychiatrists had tried to learn the truth, but each one had received all sorts of answers. Abusive parents, problems with loan sharks, a near-death experience with a catfish of all things had been some of the stories told. Some were variations of others, but there was never one single commonality in each story. A psychiatrist had once confronted the Joker about the inconsistencies with his alleged past.

The Joker has simply said, _"If I'm going to have an origin story, it might as well be multiple choice!"_

A look of disgust appeared on the vigilante's face. The canopy slid open, allowing him to climb out and land on the cave floor. If there was one thing that the Joker's attacks on the Justice League had proven to him, it was that the psychopath was fixated on him. His madness was focused solely on him. Had Batman been more associated with, say, the Birds of Prey, he had no doubt the clown would have targeted them instead, his ultimate goal remaining the same.

He needed to know more.

Marching through the cave, he headed to the stand where his armor was displayed. Standing in front of it, he deactivated the systems throughout the suit before he began taking it off piece by piece, starting with the mask. As Bruce removed his gauntlets and hung them where they belonged, he was considering his next step.

With everything he knew, there was no point in trying to dig up the Joker's past. It was most likely lost to the passage of time with the green-haired man the only person knowing the complete story. Getting that information was not worth the aggravation.

So what did that leave? Well, if there was one thing Bruce was good at, it was getting into the mind of the criminal element. It was how he preyed on their fears, using their imaginations against them. It seemed it was time that he entered yet another mind.

In order to do this though, he had many things that needed to be done. Getting time off from Wayne Enterprises wouldn't be too much trouble. As CEO, all he needed to do was inform Lucius that he'd been out of town for awhile and that was that. For his night job, however, that was something else entirely.

The Birds of Prey would need to be informed. As much as he wasn't a fan of leaving the city in the hands of others, it wouldn't be the first time that he had left for personal reasons. Black Canary would be able to coordinate with Huntress and the Batclan once he told her of his intentions.

As he began taking off the body of his armor, he paused for a moment. If there was anyone that deserved to know of his absence, it would be Gordon. Considering how difficult it was to re-establish their working relationship, keeping the police commissioner in the loop would go a long way to keeping their status quo. Pulling off the armor and placing it on the stand, he mentally began planning out tonight's patrol, one that would allow him to deliver his messages without inconveniencing him.

And speaking of inconveniences...

"Cassandra," he called out, one hand running through his dark hair. He didn't hear the girl approach, but he did feel her presence.

Turning to his left, his eyes fell on the girl, still in her Batgirl suit, though her mask was firmly in her hands. Her assistance had been invaluable when apprehending the Joker. Without her, the madman would have gotten away.

Unfortunately, having given her a taste of working as Batgirl would make keeping her off the streets all but impossible now.

He had wanted a slow immersion, steadily integrating the girl into his patrol and subsequently fighting the criminal element. His hand had been forced that one night, putting her into action, and even allowing her to drive one of the motorcycles. The next patrol he did would be as a duo rather than solo.

However, she had never been out on her own, thus Bruce couldn't trust her not to perform his duties in his absence. Mentally sighing, he knew he had to take her with him.

"We're going on a trip," he told her, the girl's eyes widening in surprise. He knew what was going in her head the instant it occurred. He had never taken her out of the house before even when he had been hunting down the Court of Owls all over the world. This would be new for her. "I need you with me," he continued unabated. "Get out of your armor and prepare a bag."

Cassandra stood still as she tried to make sense of the words. "Help?" she asked, pointing to the supercomputer.

Bruce frowned. It seemed she wasn't sure what his intentions were. "No," he said, shaking his head, which only added to her confusion. He then gestured to himself. "Help."

Cassandra pointed her hand at him in turn. "Help?"

The dark-haired man nodded. "Help."

She then looked down at her suit, both of her hands reaching out to grab the ends of her cape and opening it up, her arms spread wide. Though she didn't say anything, her implication involved the necessity of her suit, that much he was able to interpret.

"We'll be taking that with us," Bruce told her. "For now, take it off." He then gestured to his own suit for emphasis.

That finally made sense to her. Dropping her cape, she nodded her acknowledgement of his order. However, she paused for a moment, going so far as to bite her lip. That caught Bruce's attention as he watched her curiously.

The young girl then tightened her grip on her mask and raised it with both hands up in front of her, showing it to the billionaire. "When?" she asked, the latest word she had learned.

"When we return," he answered her. Walking, he made his way to the large computer, taking a suit in the chair. "Computer: bring up the location of Guam."

Immediately, a geological map appeared on screen, showing the island of Guam. More importantly, he was looking at the north side of the island. He had heard rumblings through dark channels of a research facility there. The things done there were strictly experimental with enough red tape to make sure anyone looking for it would give up long before they found it.

Bruce wasn't just anyone, however.

He had been chasing down a lead on a Court of Owls member when he had stumbled upon this information. Initially he had wanted to shut it down, but other matters ended up taking precedent and he had forgotten all about it. As it turned out, perhaps that was for the best.

"Goodbye Gotham," Bruce muttered to himself as he continued to stare at the image.

"Hello Zur En Arrh."

* * *

To Guest for Chapter 21: I hope you wish was everything you hoped it'd be.

To Guest for Chapter 20: Thanks!

Death of the League comes to an end at last. I'd like to thank everyone who read, reviewed, and enjoyed the story. I really appreciated the feedback. This was a fun story to write out, a few details here and there notwithstanding. As mentioned here and there, I took quite a bit of inspiration from Death of the Family, The Killing Joke, and Injustice: Gods Among Us. Their fingerprints are all over the place lol.

For the record, I do know the significance behind Zur En Arrh and its place in Batman: RIP. My fellow co-author Anonymous Void and I have plans for it though, so we're making a change. You can find out all about it in the next installment, _Ten Houses of Deceit._ The story is currently being written, so look out for it. AV's taking the lead on this story, so it'll be posted under his account.

Once again, thanks to everyone that enjoyed the story.

Until next time,

ShadowMajin


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